Fifty Fluffy Drabbles
by Zero Unit RGB
Summary: The Chosen Children are constantly being tortured by fanfic writers so they deserve some time to unwind. Welcome to a story where every season is in a crazy crossover but there is no danger because they want to enjoy life too! This is for the Too Many Cookies Boot Camp Challenge! Enjoy! New chapters will be posted whenever I am hit with inspiration and am inclined to write it down.
1. Picnic

**So, this is the first ever challenge I've taken and the fourth Digimon story I'm doing so bear with me. To move away from the blood of Forbidden Tales, the suspense of Children of the Present, and fights of Children of the Past, I'm doing fluff! I hope you all enjoy and no, there are no couples but a little romanticism here and there. Please leave a review!**

-X-

"Let's all have a picnic on Sunday!" Izumi smiled. Out of sheer luck, only the digidestined of class 1-B were in the room at the moment during their lunch period so this brought the girl to believe that now was the perfect time to ask them all.

Ruki scoffed. "Sorry, I heard it's going to be windy and I'm not a fan of such weather, no offense Warrior of Wind. Besides, my grandma is dragging me on a shopping trip."

Kenta bowed apologetically. "Same for my mom. We haven't really gone grocery shopping in a long while."

"A picnic does sound like fun" Juri mused. "But I have to help out at my family restaurant."

"Tai and I already made plans" Hikari added.

Takeru nodded. "My brother and I are going out that day too."

"The studio has me recording a new song that day" Nene sighed.

"Taiki has a street basketball match and he's been outdoing himself as usual day after day" Akari huffed in exasperation. "I've got no choice but to tag along with him in case he passes out. I always have to look out for him like that."

Kiriha gave a short laugh at the idea of their general losing consciousness in the middle of the street but then turned to Izumi. "Sorry, I'm not a fan of picnics" was his response.

Izumi didn't exactly like his response but decided to let it pass by considering the rest of his team wasn't going there, it probably wouldn't be so much fun for him. So instead, she turned to the only other Chosen Child in class 1-B who also happened to be her fellow Legendary Warrior, Koji Minamoto. Koji simply stared back at her pouting lips and puppy-dog eyes which told him that he was her only hope.

There was a long pause and no one moved and then…Koji turned and faced the window.

"At least look at me when you reject me!" she shouted indignantly.

"Out of curiosity" said Hikari, getting her attention. "Why do you want to go on a picnic in the first place?"

Izumi seemed to give her a fond smile. "Well, I was just looking outside and thinking that the weather hasn't gotten cold enough for us to stay inside all the time. And then I was reminded that I never had an actual picnic before ever since arriving to Japan three years ago."

Koji seemed to remember something as well. When he and his team were in a race against time against the Royal Knights, they were at Ophanimon's library and Neemon suggested having a picnic on the beautiful flowers outside. Bokomon had snapped the other's pants and proceeded to make a speech about how they needed to hurry and find the fractal code. Everything was happening so fast and Koji completely forgot how those flowers looked like.

He sighed and stood up. "Izumi, how about this? We and the rest of the Legendary Warriors go on a picnic together on Sunday since everyone else seems to be too busy. It'll be like old times when we were adventuring in the Digital World."

Izumi was surprised that her stubborn friend actually suggested that but she wasn't go to allow him any time to change his mind so she smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that sounds great! I'll go find Takuya and Junpei and tell them right now, you can tell Koichi! I'll text you guys the details on Saturday!"

Koji nodded as he did so, figuring they would just call Tomoki later.

-X-

Junpei placed the snacks he wanted to at Miyako's till so that she could check them out for him. He glanced at his phone to check the time and groaned when he figured that the train ride would probably make him late. He could've just bought the snacks at a convenience store in Shibuya but Miyako was giving the friends' and family discount which in hindsight, probably wasn't worth it if it meant getting an earful from Izumi.

"Your total comes out to 4500 yen!" Miyako grinned.

"Eh?!" Junpei blanched. "But what about that discount you offered me?"

There was a glint in Miyako's eye that Junpei didn't really like. "I gave it to you, trust me. You just bought a lot of items."

Junpei sighed in defeat. "You're lucky I'm late."

Junpei was lucky too, the train to Shibuya arrived at the station a lot earlier than he had anticipated so he was only ten minutes late to getting to the park. It also wasn't hard to find them since there weren't that many Japanese people with natural blonde hair like Izumi so they stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Hey, sorry I'm late!" he called out to them.

They all smiled but Takuya was the first to greet him. "No problem! I only arrived a few seconds ago myself!"

"As long as you brought the snacks you promised then it's all good" Tomoki smiled.

"Yup!" Junpei grinned as he held up the picnic basket Yoshino let him borrow. "Courtesy of the Inoue Convenience Store. By the way, if Miyako offers any of you a discount, she's just lying to drum up business."

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me" Koichi chuckled.

The six of them were enjoying themselves despite the wind like Ruki had predicted but none of them really cared. The pre-prepared bento boxes that Koichi's mom had prepared and leftover Italian food from Izumi's place were more than enough to keep them warm. Other than eating though, they were reminiscing the times they had in the Digital World and when they would relax and just camp out. It was sort of a picnic every day when they had a meal.

"It's too bad we didn't get the chance to enjoy ourselves when we were fighting the Royal Knights though" Koichi sighed. They had almost forgotten that he wasn't there for most of the adventure and when he was, they were either fighting Cherubimon or trying to take down the Royal Knights to slow things down.

"Now I kind of wish we had that picnic Neemon suggested" Tomoki said. "I mean, Crusadermon and Dynasmon didn't even reach Ophanimon's library for hours and even then, we wouldn't have found the fractal code no matter how much we searched."

"We sort of found it upon arrival though" Takuya added before mentally slapping himself. None of them needed the reminder that Nefertimon was killed and the fractal code had been taken anyway. "Sorry, that sounded really bad."

"We know you didn't mean anything by it" Izumi replied. "But I kind of wish we would've slowed down a little and at least looked at those pretty flowers outside. I don't even remember how they look like anymore."

Junpei remembered that day pretty easily, everyone was in such a rush that they didn't have the time to breathe in the flowers but he did. He was nervous and scared that they were going to lose another area to their enemies so when he saw those flowers, he felt calmer. It also inspired him to perform a new magic trick although it wasn't perfect; he still showed it to Tomoki on that day. That's when he remembered what he had placed in the bottom of his picnic basket.

Junpei raised his hands and everyone turned their attention to him just as the first rainbow colored flower was produced out of thin air. He started pulling more out of seemingly nowhere and started dropping them wherever the wind blew them, surprising them all.

"Wow, they're beautiful!" Izumi smiled as she held one delicately in her hands.

"I didn't know you did magic tricks" Koichi chuckled.

"That's right, you weren't there when he first showed us" Koji laughed.

"They're really pretty Junpei but how did you do that?" Takuya asked.

Junpei grinned coyly as he held a flower in each hand. "Ah, a good magician never reveals his secrets."

"You showed me this trick before" Tomoki said, remembering that it had cheered him up after feeling depressed. "Well, except that they were white but I like it better like this. How did you get them to look like this?"

"I took one home with me" Junpei said in response. "I wanted to recreate them out of paper and I spent a lot of time on them. Back then, the trick I showed you was imperfect because I didn't have the time to color them."

"They look just like the real thing" Takuya smiled. "I wonder how they're all doing right now."

The happy atmosphere seemed to drop a little as they thought about their Digimon friends.

"I'm sorry" Junpei said when no one said anything. "I didn't mean to remind everyone about certain things…"

"No" Izumi shook her head. "I'm glad you showed us this. I didn't really get the chance to look at those flowers so I'm really happy I did even if it is just a paper replica." Everyone else nodded in agreement and Junpei couldn't help smiling himself.

It wasn't long after that that they started drifting off to sleep, many of them looking as if they were having good dreams. Tomoki curled up into a ball, looking even younger than he already did; Izumi fell asleep beside him, and the twins resting peacefully side by side.

Only Takuya and Junpei were still awake at this point but the peaceful atmosphere was starting to get to Takuya as well as his eyes fluttered close. Their unofficial leader ended up leaning against the oldest member of the team, his head resting on Junpei's shoulder. Junpei didn't mind though, besides, he was too full to complain.

Junpei glanced down into the picnic basket and noticed how there was still a chocolate bar left. He almost burst out laughing as he remembered how his old self used to carry tons of them in his loose jumpsuit, making him look bigger than he actually was. The team was rather surprised when they discovered he wasn't as chubby as his outfit made him out to be.

The Warrior of Thunder picked up the candy bar but paused when he found another flower underneath it. He picked it up and stared at it, turning it in between his fingers with a reminiscent look on his face.

"The last flower" he muttered.

Junpei had actually developed this trick to show Izumi in order to win her heart. He had planned to show her first before anyone else so he didn't mind showing Tomoki the imperfect version. But it took him a long time to actually finish painting one hundred individual paper flowers so he had forgotten. He only remembered when Izumi had mentioned having a picnic.

He smiled at the foolishness of his thirteen year old self, wishing he could go back sometimes.

Well, it was too late to succeed in winning the blonde's heart now. Not only was he planning on staying just friends with her but the first person he showed this trick to, wasn't her. It was his best friends in the entire world. He couldn't even imagine himself without them.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew and the flower flew out of his hand. He watched it as it was carried along with the wind and then looked down at their picnic blanket. He noticed that all around it were his flower replicas. They were certainly beautiful but no match for the original version. But still, it really felt like they had a picnic on those gorgeous flowers they had seen on that day.

He smiled. _Hana ni pikunikku._


	2. Hobbies

**Inspiration made a preemptive strike before I could even take a few days off for relaxation. So I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please leave a review!**

-X-

"You want to join the photography club?" Hikari blinked.

"Actually, we were going to take a look around" Juri clarified while holding tightly onto Ruki's wrist. "You see, Ruki doesn't have any extracurricular activities and I always see her roam the halls when she's waiting for me to finish up at the gymnastics club so I thought I could find her a hobby."

Ruki tried to protest but her friend just dragged her into the clubroom. "I don't need to join the photography club" grumbled Ruki.

"It's really dark in here" Juri noted once they were inside.

Hikari nodded. "Yeah, today we're using old film cameras rather than digital ones so we need the room to be dark so that the film can develop. You've seen them before right? Like in old movies and TV shows? Although they show up in modern ones too nowadays..."

"Oh yeah" Juri smiled before noticing that her hand wasn't holding anyone. "Ruki?"

"It's so dark…" Ruki muttered as she turned on the lights, causing everyone in the room to gasp in horror as their photos turned negative.

"Ruki!" Hikari and Juri both exclaimed.

"What?"

Juri quickly grabbed her friend and ran out of the room before the angry photographers could try and get them. "Goodbye Hikari! We're really sorry about the pictures and we'll see you in class tomorrow!"

"Um…Okay!" Hikari called back as she watched them race through the halls. The brunette then remembered something and pulled out her phone, sending a text to the girls who just left. "She really should've asked Ruki what her interests are in the first place" she giggled.

-X-

"And that's what happened" Juri huffed when she finally finished explaining to Takato and Jian who were at the vending machine.

"I can't really picture Ruki in the photography club anyway" Takato shrugged before chuckling at his unintentional pun.

"Takato has a point" Jian nodded. "Maybe you should check on Ruki to see what she would like to do."

Juri looked up from her phone although she was paying attention to them. "Yeah, I just got a text from Hikari saying the same thing." The three Tamers turned to the redhead who was buying green tea from the vending machine. "What do you like to do Ruki?"

Ruki stared back at them with a completely straight face as she said this. "I like being violent with people."

They blankly stared back at her.

"Martial arts clubs" said Jian. "We can start at the tai-chi club since I'm in it too."

"That won't work" Ruki said. "When school started back up again, I was recruited by Junpei to join the wrestling club. As it would turn out, most of the moves I performed are illegal in every martial arts and I'm banned from most of them. All supervisors of a fighting club have a sign that forbids me from entering."

"Somehow I'm not surprised" Juri sighed. She then kept her eyes on the can of green tea in Ruki's hands.

"You guys don't have to do this you know –." Ruki tried to say before Juri grinned.

"What about the tea club?" suggested Juri. "Ruki, whenever you visit any of our houses, you always ask if we have tea in the house. Not to mention the fact that you know the tea ceremony by heart so that should be a perfect place for you."

Ruki shook her head. "Akari tried to recruit me there too on the second week of school when she noticed that I always bought tea instead of the carbonated drinks from the machines. I may know the ceremony by heart but I get bored easily. Not to mention, I'm more of a sweet tea kind of person and the tea they serve in the club is always bitter. And worst of all, no matter what, my legs always fall asleep when I sit in that accursed position for too long."

"That doesn't surprise me either" Jian huffed. "What about a sports club then?"

"Too lazy" Ruki shook her head.

"She shot that one down quickly" Takato remarked.

"I know that she hates all of the technology clubs" Jian sighed. "She was waiting for me while I was at the computer club and when Koushirou invited her in, she just stared blankly, with her right eye twitching as everyone was sitting at their computers. As we were going home, she said…" He then looks over to the redhead who took a sip from her can.

"I hate modern technology" Ruki snickered.

"Maybe she just needs another way of expressing herself" Juri thought aloud.

Ruki stood up and was about to walk away from them when the brunette suddenly grabbed her arm and started dragging her away, the two boys following right behind them. The four of them just kept walking through the halls, three of them thinking that they were just doing it aimlessly until Juri made a pit stop in front of the drama club.

"It took me a long time, but I figured it out" Juri smiled triumphantly. "What she needs to express herself is through acting! It's not too physically draining, modern tech isn't involved for the performers, and all of the fighting isn't real!

"That sounds boring" Ruki commented. "And Juri, I really should tell you –."

Juri cut her off again. "Ruki, you need a hobby. I'm really worried about you because you never really do anything other than whatever we plan on doing. So, just go inside and see if anything interests you. If you like what you see and hear, then give this form to the supervisor."

Ruki nodded numbly and entered the room. Upon entering, she cringed at the noticeably horrible actors putting on a show in the middle of the room, with the rest of the club members watching. She was more than tempted to say something rude to them but held back, knowing that Juri would be very upset if she did something as stupid as get herself kicked out. So her only choice was to look for someone she knew which didn't take long.

"Hey Ruki, what are you doing here?" Nene asked.

"Juri has me running around the school looking for a club for me to join" Ruki explained. "She says that I need a hobby."

"Well the drama club is great and a lot of fun" Nene smiled before lowering her voice. "As long as you can endure the bad acting sometimes. But don't worry, not everyone here is that bad."

"Thank God I'm not the only one who thinks so" Ruki grinned. "So who are the good actors around here?"

"Oh, well, there's…"

Juri, Jian, and Takato all jumped a little when Ruki suddenly rushed out of the room, saying a hurried goodbye to Nene. They were surprised that she got out of there so quickly considering only a couple of seconds had passed.

"What happened? Did you give the form to the sensei in charge?" Juri asked.

"No, there is no way I'm joining that club" Ruki huffed.

"Is the acting that bad?" Jian asked. "You always complain about some of the terrible plays you've been dragged to."

"Yes, the acting for some of them is horrid" Ruki admitted. "But it's one of the good actors I'm more concerned about."

"What do you mean?" asked Takato.

"Ryo is in there" she muttered in a dazed expression as she speed-walked through the halls to get as far away as possible from the room, with the other three Tamers chasing after her. "You guys can't drag me back there! I will hate all of you if you do!"

They finally caught her and got her to calm down. Once again, they were sitting outside at the vending machine, getting new drinks to quench their thirst after that pointless chase through the halls.

"How about the art club?" Juri asked.

"She tried" Takato said, being part of the club himself. "She drew a lot of these disturbing and bone-chilling scenes that it frightened many of the other members and even the supervisor. Two of our members still haven't returned to school."

"What about the chess club?" inquired Jian.

"Too boring and the rules are stupid" Ruki scoffed.

"What about the manga society?" suggested Takato.

"Kazu and Kenta are in that club" Juri reminded them. "Do you really think she'd be willing to join it judging by the way she reacted when she saw Ryo in the drama club?"

"What about the trading card game club?" Jian questioned.

"That's like throwing me into a sea of fan boys" Ruki shuddered.

"You like foreign countries" Takato mused. "What about the model UN?"

"She wouldn't know how to represent any country other than Japan" Jian told him, ignoring the insulted look Ruki gave him although she knew he was right.

"Listen" Ruki sighed as she stood up. "You guys should really know that –."

Juri suddenly shot up and grabbed Ruki's wrist, pulling her away and once again, the boys followed right behind them. They started going up floor after floor until they reached the top floor of Yagami High where they stopped in front of the culinary clubroom.

"This is it!" Juri huffed as she tried to catch her breath. "This will be the perfect club for you!" Before Ruki could protest, the redhead was shoved inside.

"Are you judging this by the fact that she's a good cook" Jian asked.

"Yup!" Juri cheered.

Takato seemed rather unsure. "It's true that she's a good cook but I've only ever seen her make Japanese delicacies such as katsudon and yakisoba. But isn't Mimi the president of this club and doesn't she make a lot of stuff like American dishes or fancy plates like escargot?"

The smile dropped from Juri's face at the same time the fire alarms started ringing.

"A fire! Put it out! Put it out!" they heard Mimi shout from inside.

"Sorry!" Ruki called back as she escaped the room with the other three Tamers chasing after her.

Once again, the four of them were sitting outside by the vending machine.

"I'm running out of coins" Takato muttered.

"You should work out a little more" Jian suggested. "You get winded really easily."

The girls weren't really listening to them; Juri was just sitting on the bench, trying to think of another club while Ruki leaned against the wall.

"What about the dance club?" Juri asked emotionlessly.

"Ruki hates dancing" Jian reminded her.

"What about the fashion club?"

"Do we even need to reply to that one?" Takato asked.

"I give up!" Juri slumped. She and the two boys looked over to Ruki who was just staring off into space, humming a song by a famous artist. "I would've suggested one of the music clubs if she didn't hate singing so much" Juri sighed.

Takato suddenly flushed when he remembered something. "Actually, Ruki has nothing against music now. As a matter of fact, it doesn't even have to be singing, she knows how to play piano, guitar, and violin."

There was a long pause.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?!" Juri practically shrieked as she grabbed Ruki and pulled her away.

After some running, they finally made it to the orchestra room. The club wasn't meeting today but a supervisor was in there to take any forms since it was still fairly early in the school year. Juri gave Ruki the form she had given her earlier.

Ruki didn't enter the room immediately, she just turned to Juri. "Juri, listen –."

"Ruki, please!" Juri huffed. "We're not going to be together forever. We only have three years of high school and you're missing out on so much. I know you don't like social interaction all too much but you have to do something or you're going to end up lost in the future. I'm just really worried about you."

Ruki was silent as she stared at her friend. "Pu-!"

"Pu?" Juri blinked.

Ruki suddenly started laughing, surprising Takato and Juri before turning to Jian who was in deep contemplation. Jian was blushing when it finally dawned on him.

"You're already in this club, aren't you" Jian concluded. "That's what you've been trying to tell us the entire time."

"Eh?!" Takato and Juri blinked as they turned back to the redhead who was nodding through her fits of laughter.

"Yeah" Ruki sniffed. "Juri, you kept cutting me off every time I tried to tell you."

Juri felt like hitting her head against a brick wall. She bowed apologetically to her friend. "I am so sorry for dragging you throughout the entire school! I should've just stopped and listened to you. I've been a terrible friend!"

Ruki shook her head as she took Juri's hands in her own. "No, you've been a great friend. You were so worried about me not having a hobby. It was kind of fun looking around at all the clubs and best of all, it made me feel so happy knowing you were this concerned for my future. Thank you."

Juri was surprised, usually, Ruki would let her temper get the best of her. But Juri supposed that Ruki had really changed since when they had first met her.

"Of course I was worried Ruki" Juri smiled. "Besides Leomon, you're my best friend."

"You're my best friend too" Ruki laughed cheerfully. "Well, besides Renamon of course!"


	3. Sports

**Fair warning since I know most people prefer other seasons, but this chapter is primarily centered on the Hunters. There is no mention of anything from the season itself but I just wanted to mention which characters are featured in this chapter. Hope you leave a review because I hunger for them!**

-X-

'_My best friend Tagiru is obnoxious, loud, and invasive. He has no idea what the meaning of boundaries are and he can be incredibly annoying. His most significant trait is how he goes around talking about superstars and how he admires them.'_

For Tagiru Akaishi and Yuu Amano, it was a half-day at their middle school so they decided to visit Yagami High School to see their admired senpai. They were lucky too; they got to see him practice with the rest of the basketball club and even got a chance to play against some of the members.

"Taiki-san, that was amazing!" Tagiru cheered as his senior took a sip of water from his water bottle. "You were a real superstar on the field!"

"Thanks" Taiki chuckled. "Although I'm only a first-year, the older members of the club are even better than I am. Especially the new captain, Ryo, he's the star player on our team." As if on cue, Ryo made a slam dunk, earning cheers from a little section of fan girls who came specifically to watch him.

Tagiru's eyes sparkled as he watched the Tamer behave as cool as he always did. "He's also really cool. Another superstar to add to my list!"

"You realize that other than being a Chosen Child, they're not really anything special" Ikuto told the younger boy. "We're all normal people for the most part."

"You don't have any room to talk" Takeru chuckled. "You spent the first two-thirds of your life in the Digital World and you've picked up a lot of strange habits including grunting like an Ogremon after getting accidentally hit with the ball. I can hardly call you normal."

Tagiru gasped when he heard this. "So you're Ikuto? The one who was raised in the Digital World for ten years?! You're a real superstar to have survived in such a dangerous place."

"Um…Well, I had some help" Ikuto muttered nervously.

Yuu sighed as he watched Tagiru continue to invade Ikuto's personal space, with Taiki trying to stop him.

"Is your friend always like this?" Takeru asked. "You know, talking about people and calling them 'superstars'?"

Yuu nodded. "He's quirky, that's for sure."

Takeru smiled. "He reminds me a lot of Daisuke. Speaking of which, the soccer club should be ending their meeting soon so I should probably go now. I'm heading home with him and Ken, you guys should probably go too. Your district is far from here, isn't it?"

"Uh, yeah" Yuu nodded. "But Tagiru wanted to see the members of the soccer club too when he heard two of the 'Legendary Heroes' were part of it."

"Legendary Heroes?"

"It's what the old clock guy called the DigiDestined leaders who he brought from alternate universes to fight against Quartzmon."

"Ah…Well, then we should go now before their practice game ends."

Yuu grabbed Tagiru by the ear and yanked him off of Ikuto. "Ow!" Tagiru yelped. "What was that for?"

"For being a nuisance to Ikuto-san" Yuu replied irately. "Now come on, I thought you didn't want to miss Daisuke-san and Takuya-san in the soccer club. Takeru just told me that their practice game is about to end."

"Eh? Really?" Tagiru gasped. "Then we better hurry!"

Ryo was just saying his goodbye to Jian who had leave a little bit early as he approached the middle school visitors. "You two are leaving already?" the team captain inquired. "Well, I suppose it can't be helped. Are you two going to Yagami next year?"

"We're going to try to" Yuu said.

"Well then you should definitely join the basketball club next year" Ryo grinned. "Taiki has told me about how you guys are the best members of his street basketball team and after watching the two of you in action today, I can tell he wasn't kidding."

"Yeah, we're definitely going to join!" Tagiru smiled excitedly.

Taiki smiled at his junior's energy. "You realize that you still have to pass the entrance exam before getting in, right?"

"Don't worry, I'll have Yuu tutor me every night!" Tagiru promised before getting whacked on the head by his classmate.

"You have no right in deciding my evening plans" Yuu sighed in an exasperated tone.

"You two never change" Taiki shrugged before grabbing his bag. "Well, we should get going now. Ikuto, Ryo, I'll see you two tomorrow." Taiki took a step and suddenly felt very dizzy, everyone gasped as they watched him fall forward.

"Not again" Yuu muttered at the same time a shadow zipped by them.

Taiki fell right onto a pillow, provided by his childhood friend, Akari who was apparently waiting for him in the section of fan girls. She sighed in relief before swatting her friend with a fan in annoyance. "Why do you always do this?! Why can't you rest for just a few minutes?! Just before the club, you were running around trying to help the student council despite the fact that they told you that you didn't have to!"

"Um, Akari" Takeru said. "I don't think he's going to respond while he's passed out."

"I know" Akari huffed before looking over to the Hunters. "You guys go over to the soccer field, Taiki and I will catch up with you on our way home."

Yuu and Tagiru nodded before following Takeru out to the soccer field where they made it just in time to see Ken score two goals for his team. Takuya and Daisuke were for the opposite team and felt pretty embarrassed that Tagiru had to come at that moment.

"If you had come earlier, you would've seen me pull of four goals" Daisuke boasted.

"I think you may have counted three of mine as yours" Takuya coughed.

"Well even if though you guys didn't score any goals, you were still pretty cool!" Tagiru smiled before looking towards Ken who was surrounded by fan girls. "Aw, I really wanted to talk to Ken though. He seemed like a really cool superstar!"

"Yeah, but being a superstar has its consequences" Takuya chuckled as they watched a girl cling onto Ken's arm. They continued to watch for a few seconds and in that short amount of time, it began to escalate as the girls began fighting for Ken's attention.

"Not this again" Takeru groaned. "Come on Daisuke, let's go help Ken out before he's torn apart."

"Way ahead of you" Daisuke sighed. "Takuya, can you go and get a teacher in case we can't stop that mess?"

"Yeah, I know the drill" Takuya said before turning to the younger boys. "You guys should probably go home. Takeru always gets absorbed into that mess too and then it becomes really ugly when Daisuke tried to pull a girl off of Ken." He ran off towards the school building before coming to a stop and calling back to them. "Oh, and by the way, if you guys come to Yagami next year, you should think about joining the soccer club!"

"We don't even know if we're going to be accepted here and we've already been recruited to two sports clubs" Yuu sighed.

"Yeah, but don't you think it'd be awesome to join?" Tagiru grinned.

"Both clubs meet on nearly all the same days" Yuu reminded him. "There is no way we'd be able to manage both those clubs at the same time."

"Oh, I forgot about that…Well, we can always ask Taiki-san for advice and we still have a whole year before making a decision" Tagiru laughed.

"Honestly…You can be too carefree and clueless sometimes" Yuu huffed.

-X-

The four of them got off their train when they made it to their destination. After they walked together for a few blocks, Akari turned the corner and left the three boys after waving goodbye.

"So Takuya tried to recruit you guys to the soccer club while I was unconscious?" Taiki rephrased.

"Sort of" Yuu nodded. "He was sort of in a rush so it was less of recruiting and more of a suggestion."

"He was still asking us to join" Tagiru retorted. "And I think I might take him up on his offer! It would be really cool to join the basketball club and try to surpass Taiki-san as well as Ryo but I think it would be more fun to try out a new sport!"

"It's always good to broaden your horizons" Taiki chuckled.

Yuu sighed. Tagiru always had to be like this. Yuu was hoping that the three of them could be together on the basketball team, just like old times but suddenly, his best friend had other plans. But it's not like Yuu was able to stop him if Tagiru chose to join the soccer club instead of the basketball club.

"It's your choice" Yuu said after a period of silence. "But just remember that you should practice a little bit since you don't really know soccer all that well. It'll save you the embarrassment if you make the mistake of using your hands instead of your feet."

"Why do you always have to be so condescending?" Tagiru moped.

Taiki and Yuu stared at their friend as if he had just started speaking a foreign language.

"Did you actually just use a vocabulary word we learned in English?" Yuu blinked.

"That makes it sound like you two think I'm stupid" Tagiru pouted as he started to walk away from them.

"Sorry" Taiki quickly said as they caught up. "It's just a surprise. You don't usually use words like that and when you do, they're not exactly within context so it just caught us off guard for a moment. But we promise that we don't think you're stupid."

"Yeah" Yuu nodded in agreement. "Although I must say, you're always full of surprises Tagiru."

"Well, I've been studying a lot lately" Tagiru admitted, getting his companions' attention once more. "I really want to go to Yagami High School since pretty much everyone from the original Xros Heart team is there. I don't want to be the only one left out even if I wasn't part of the team. I heard the test is really hard so I don't want to take any chances. Besides, how can I be a superstar if I don't go to the same school as superstars?"

Yuu blinked in surprise before smiling._ 'My best friend Tagiru is obnoxious, loud, and invasive. He has no idea what the meaning of boundaries are and he can be incredibly annoying. His most significant trait is how he goes around talking about superstars and how he admires them. But I honestly can't imagine having him any other way.'_

"Okay, how about this?" Yuu said. "I'll help you study for that entrance exam and if you get in, you're going to join the soccer club. But you have to promise me that you're going to become the superstar player of the club."

It was Tagiru's turn to be surprised but then he gave an affirmative nod. "Yeah, but you have to be sure to become the superstar player of the basketball team!"

"I will" Yuu nodded. "Let's see who becomes a superstar first!" Yuu knew what his cocky and competitive best friend would say next. Tagiru would go into some big speech about how he was going to be the first and how Yuu should watch out.

Tagiru grinned widely. "Either way, we're both going to become superstars!"

Yuu paused as he let this register in his mind. He shook his head with a smile. "You really are full of surprises."

"Eh?"

"Nothing, nothing. I was just thinking out loud."

Taiki looked between the two of them and he couldn't help smiling about how much his two kohai had grown over the course of the last two years. They still bicker and argue about every little thing but he was glad that they were capable of getting along like this too. "I'm glad you two are such good friends."


	4. Dancing

**This chapter features bad dancing, a terrible drawing, and the 02 gang! I hope you all enjoy this little chapter and don't forget to leave a review!**

-X-

The final bell rang and everyone sighed in relief after the long day they've had. Miyako was hoping that the stress of her day was finally over until she reached into her bag to get her phone. Her eyes widened she only grabbed air.

From a few seats away, Junpei watched as she frantically started rummaging around in her bag, tossing random items out of the way.

"What is she doing?" Ryo asked.

Junpei shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe she lost something."

Miyako seemed to have heard them and threw her glasses case at the Warrior of Thunder. "I'm looking for my phone if you're so curious! Did either one of you see it lying around here My mom would kill me if she found out I lost it."

"You didn't have to throw your case at me" Junpei muttered.

"When and where was the last place you used it?" Ryo asked.

Miyako took a few moments to think about before slamming her fist onto her desk, surprising the two boys and the rest of the class. "I was in Daisuke's room!" she shouted. "That idiot! Every single time I go there, I lose something!"

"What were you doing at Daisuke's place anyway?" Junpei asked.

"I left my jacket there from the time I visited before" Miyako told them before shoving everything back into her back. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!" She zipped past them and they simply watched her run off, presumably to grab Daisuke and pull him out of soccer club.

"How does she know that it's because of Daisuke's room and not because of her own forgetfulness?" Ryo chuckled. "She forgot that tomorrow is Saturday."

"She also forgot her glasses case" Junpei muttered, holding up the projectile. "I suppose I'll take just ask Hikari to return it to her."

-X-

Iori stopped in front of the Motomiya resident's door at the same time Ken did. "So I'm guessing Miyako sent you a message on your D-Terminal too?" the younger boy inquired.

Ken nodded. "She's always forgetting stuff at his place."

The two of them rang on the doorbell and waited for Daisuke's older sister to let them in as per usual. Jun knew exactly what the two of them were there for considering Miyako was in her brother's room tearing his room apart. It was also the third time this week that Miyako had lost something in their apartment.

As soon as Ken and Iori stepped in front of Daisuke's room, they heard Miyako scream and a flying piece of white fabric hit Ken in the face.

"What the –?" Ken muttered before realizing it was Daisuke's underwear. "Oh gross!" He flung it back into the room and it landed on top of Daisuke's head.

"Hey, you don't have to sound so mean!" Daisuke huffed. "Besides, it's only been sitting around for two days."

"And by that, he means ten days!" Chibimon chimed.

Daisuke gave his partner a bop on the head before continuing to look around his mess of a room for Miyako's phone. The four of them and their Digimon partners just kept rummaging around without any success but then Iori noticed something.

The youngest of them picked up a folded piece of paper he found underneath an empty pizza box. He unfolded it and stared at the picture drawn on it for a long time. "Hey Daisuke, isn't this the picture you drew for Ishida-san?"

They paused and noticed that he was holding up a drawn picture of UltraAngemon, a figment of Daisuke's imagination. It was basically a fake Digimon he had created, thinking that it would be the evolution of Veemon so that he could one-up Takeru and Angemon.

Miyako grabbed before Daisuke could and began laughing loudly. "I remember this! When Gennai turned our memories into that television show, Yamato's dad asked for you to draw an image of this to put into it."

After their final battle, the governments wanted to cover up the stories about digital monsters so Gennai decided to help. Koushiro came up with this theory that unless you were directly involved, you wouldn't believe such an event had occurred so by feeding the public enough lies, they will soon believe it as the truth. That was how their lives were turned into a television show and Hiroaki Ishida became the executive producer.

It was a good thing they knew someone who worked for a television network and was willing to help them out.

"Oh yeah" Ken nodded with a chuckle. "You asked to skip that episode since it was really embarrassing but Yamato's father argued that it needed to be in the show since viewers would wonder where ExVeemon came from without it."

"I still wish they skipped over it" Daisuke muttered. "Hikari gave me an earful about forcing Veemon to evolve just to impress her. And it was even more embarrassing when I drew that picture."

Miyako held it high in the air. "It does capture the quality of your imagination nicely though."

"Hey!"

"Didn't they make a lot of changes to that episode in America?" Minomon asked.

"Right, like they didn't show Tortamon peeing" Poromon nodded.

"They changed UltraAngemon's name too" Upamon added.

Miyako started snickering. "Wasn't it something really lame like MegaDancermon?"

"It was because earlier in that episode, they were talking about how Hikari was a great dancer and how Gatomon loves to dance as well" Ken said. "So Veemon in the English dub, said he wanted to evolve into a great dancing Digimon."

Even though Daisuke knew that they were talking about how the television network in America decided to portray Veemon, he still felt the need to defend his partner. "Well even if he was MegaDancermon, he would have some really cool hip-hop and break dancing moves!"

"Yeah!" Chibimon agreed. "Wait, what's break dancing?"

Daisuke grinned. "You know, it's something like this!" He got down to the filthy floor and try to do some sort of spin on his head but ended up crashing into his bed causing everyone to laugh at him. He would've felt embarrassed too if he didn't think it was funny too.

"No way, as if he would do something like that!" Miyako scoffed. "Since Hikari was taking ballet at the time, it's obvious he would do something like a pirouette! I can imagine it right now." She suddenly did a twirl on one leg to which everyone tried not to laugh at although she didn't seem to mind if they did.

"Although in Veemon's wild imagination, weren't he and Gatomon ballroom dancing?" Iori brought up.

"That's true" Ken nodded. "I definitely remember them doing the tango."

"Then why don't you two demonstrate it?" Miyako grinned.

"Eh?"

"Yeah, we shouldn't be the only ones dancing!" Daisuke nodded eagerly.

"Eh?!"

Miyako grabbed Iori while Daisuke took hold of Ken and they pushed their two hostages together. "Now dance!" they both commanded as they spun the two of them around. When the two of them stopped, they both shot glares at Daisuke and Miyako who were both laughing hysterically.

"Don't do that!" Ken snapped before bursting into fits of laughter along with Iori.

"What kind of attack moves would MegaDancermon even have?" Miyako laughed.

"Maybe something like Ultra Mega Dancer Kick!" Daisuke said while cracking up.

It wasn't long before even the Digimon joined in; portraying dance moves they learned in the Digital World as well as silly attack names and how they would be performed. They spent the rest of their day in Daisuke's room, fooling around, putting on little dance shows before Jun reminded them that they still had their homework to do.

Everyone who didn't live in the Motomiya household packed up their things and left in a hurry but not without saying goodbye to their leader and friend. Since Ken had moved from Tamachi, he lived in the same apartment building as the other two so they all went the same way, saving them the trouble of having to separate until they made it to their building.

"You know, I don't even remember what we were doing at Daisuke's place" Poromon pointed out.

"Neither do I" Upamon yawned. "But I don't really care at the moment, I just want to go home and have dinner because I'm starving."

"You're always starving" Iori chuckled.

Miyako slapped her forehead. "I completely forgot! We were looking for my cell phone because I lost it in Daisuke's room. It's like the Bermuda Triangle in there, what enters, does not come out. Maybe I should stop visiting."

"What are you talking about?" Minomon said. "We had a lot of fun there today. Isn't that all that matters?"

"And you can always buy a new phone" Ken added.

"My mom would kill me before I could" Miyako groaned.

Iori felt like slapping his forehead as well when he pulled out his own phone and gave it to the older girl. "Why don't you try calling it? It might be too late to get it back but Daisuke could probably find it and return it tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah!" Miyako lit up. "I'm so stupid! How could I not think of that earlier? I guess that's why you inherited the Digimental of Knowledge."

Miyako immediately called her number and waited for someone to pick up. After the first two rings, she heard someone pick up on the other side but it definitely was not Daisuke. "Chizuru? Is that you? Why do you have my phone?" she asked.

"_Huh?"_ her older sister replied. _"You left it at home. Don't tell me you forgot!"_

There was a long pause as Miyako let this sink in. She hung up on her sister and gave the phone back to Iori. "Apparently, it was never lost in Daisuke's room, it was at my place the entire time" she admitted sheepishly. "Sorry for dragging you guys into that wild goose chase."

"That's fine" Ken sighed. "Besides, it was fun for the most part. Not worrying about wild Digimon entering our world and causing damage but instead, being silly. It kind of felt like old times, before meeting those other DigiDestined, not that I don't enjoy in their company."

"That's true" Iori nodded. "It was definitely a lot of fun. I don't think I've ever seen Ken laugh so much."

Miyako giggled as Ken blushed. "Well, thanks for wasting so much of a day with me. I don't think I know any other friends who would be willing to spend the day doing nothing productive. You guys really are the best!"

"Just try not to lose or forget something again" Ken advised.

"No problem!" Miyako smiled.

They finally made it to their apartment building where they went into their separate apartments. Night had finally fallen and it was about time for them all to turn in and sleep until the morning. Miyako yawned as she searched through her bag for her glasses case before pausing, her eyes growing wider slightly when she realized they were gone. At first, she had assumed that she had left them at Daisuke's place but then she distinctly remembering she had thrown it at Junpei.

"And he never returned it!"

-X-

Junpei was walking to his classroom for homeroom, prepared for the long day ahead. He slid open the door and as he did, he caught of glimpse of Miyako as she suddenly came flying in, kicking him in the gut.

"Ultra Mega Dancer Kick!" she involuntarily shouted. "Damn you Daisuke for getting that stuck in my head!"

"What was that for?" Junpei moaned weakly while he was holding his stomach and kneeling on the floor.

"You stole my glasses case, you pervert!" Miyako accused.

"How does that make me a pervert?!" he shouted back.

At that moment, Hikari came in and paused when she noticed Junpei on the floor. "Um… Miyako… I forgot to return your glasses case yesterday when I saw you after Junpei gave it to me on Friday. Sorry for not giving it back sooner."

"Oops…" Miyako muttered. "Sorry, Junpei…"

"Yeah…No problem" Junpei groaned. "What are friends for if not to get kicked in the gut?"


	5. Holiday

**Yay, a brand new chapter which is written in the comfort of my home back in New York! I hope you all enjoy this one because it's all about the original DigiDestined in honor of their sequel coming in Spring. Keep rubbing that egg people! Enjoy and please leave a review!**

-X-

"Eh?!" Mimi blinked as she stared at Yoshino. "What do you mean you can't come?"

The two girls were sitting in Hypnos which was doubling as the other secret government branch known as DATS at the moment. Yoshino turned around in her seat so that she wouldn't have to look at the younger girl's pleading eyes.

"Sorry, the chief has me working that night" said Yoshino. "I've got to be here in case any Digimon bio-emerge into our world."

Mimi pouted but she wasn't about to give up. "But Reika and Yamaki are here! They can just call us if there's a wild Digimon like they always do!"

"Sorry, Mimi" Yoshino sighed. "Oh, and Masaru and Touma can't make it either. Actually, pretty much everyone in the Data Squad are working that evening?"

"Well… Okay, if you guys are that busy" Mimi muttered dejectedly as she walked away.

Yoshino waited patiently for the high school student to exit before swiveling around in her chair and glaring at Masaru and Touma. "Next time Mimi invites us to a dinner party and we can't make it, I am not losing at janken to either one of you!"

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that" Masaru grinned.

"Still…" said Touma as he looked at the invitation he was holding. "I wonder why she wants to celebrate Thanksgiving with all of us. I get that she used to live in America for a while but it's not like any of us celebrate it here…"

-X-

Mimi sighed heavily as she sat on the park bench, crossing off several names on a list. "I can't believe no one wants to come or are too busy to. I know that no one celebrates Thanksgiving in Japan but… I did and it really was a lot of a fun."

"Whoa, you're talking to yourself? That's never a good sign" a familiar voice chuckled.

Mimi looked up and smiled at her friend. "Hey, Sora. I'm sorry; I know you don't like it when I'm depressed.

"That's not something to apologize for though" Sora smiled as she sat down next to her. "What's wrong?"

"I wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving, which is a holiday in America, with everyone but they all seem to busy or they just don't want to come" Mimi told her. "I haven't had the chance to do something like this for the last three years I've been back to Japan and I was really hoping to celebrate it this year since my parents aren't going to be home for it."

"Um… How were more than forty people supposed to fit in your apartment?" Sora asked.

Mimi groaned and buried her head in her hands. "And I forgot such an important detail too! Well, it's not like it matters anymore."

Sora stared at the invitation Mimi had in her hand and took it so that she could examine it more closely. It was completely unfamiliar to her and no wonder, she never received this invitation from Mimi nor did she get any message mentioning it.

"Hey, Mimi, why didn't you invite me?" Sora asked.

"I wanted to, but you, Yamato, and Jyou all have exams the day after and I know you guys said you have to study or your professors will flunk you" Mimi explained. "Taichi has to work at the Matsuda Bakery too so he can't come. I tried to invite Koushiro but he was so busy ignoring me in favor of the computer screen in front of him that I just gave up."

Sora nodded in understanding, remembering how she was constantly complaining about her upcoming exam. "Well, what about the younger kids? Why can't they come?"

Mimi went into a long explanation about how everyone didn't want to go, whether it was work, a job interview, family matters, or one special story from Kenta, having to sneak into a museum to prove to Hirokazu that he wasn't an immortal Egyptian pharaoh.

"Well, I should go home and help my parent's pack up for their trip" Mimi sighed. "It sure is going to be a lonely holiday by myself."

"Mimi, you're never alone, you know that" Sora reminded her.

"Right, I'll always have you guys" Mimi nodded before adding under her breath. "When you guys aren't busy anyway."

"Well, say hi to Palmon for me when you get home" said Sora before they both stood up from the bench.

"Yeah, do the same for Biyomon" Mimi smiled before waving goodbye to her friend.

-X-

It was the day the dinner party was supposed to be held at the Tachikawa residence and Mimi simply watched as he parents drove out of the driveway and into the streets. She spent her day at school doing nothing particularly special as always. While Koushiro spent his time away in the computer lab along with Miyako, she went home alone. The rest of her day was used to watch television and talk to Palmon, nothing but an ordinary day. But it was supposed to be a holiday.

Palmon looked up from the magazines she was reading and stared at her partner who was lounging on the couch. "Mimi, I'm starting to get hungry."

Mimi glanced over to the clock which read past seven in the evening and sat up. "It's that late already? I guess it's time to make dinner. Dinner for two…"

"You seem upset" said Palmon. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine" Mimi waved off before looking into the fridge. "It's just, we have to eat this entire turkey by ourselves and that doesn't exactly fit in with my dietary plans."

"I don't think it's such a bad thing."

"Of course you don't, but I really wanted to spend dinner with everyone else."

"There's always next year."

"…Palmon…" Mimi trailed off. "I'm graduating this year and I'm already thinking about which colleges I want to go to. I…I wanted to go abroad again to study, back to America. That's why I was so hopeful of bringing everyone together tonight; I wanted to spend as much time with them as possible before going away again."

The flower Digimon seemed to wilt a little. "Oh…"

Mimi was about to give her partner a hug when the doorbell rung. "Who could it be at this hour?"

She opened the door and saw Koushiro standing there in a sweater and holding a bag of groceries. "Hey Mimi, I'm here!"

"You are" she nodded once the initial surprise had disappeared. "Why are you here?"

"You must've thought I was ignoring you again" he chuckled a little nervously. "Well, you invited me to your dinner party and even though I was busy, I still heard you. And besides, you left the invitation at my desk so I saw it anyway."

Tentomon flew out from Koushiro's other grocery bag. "And I thought it was a great idea!"

Mimi giggled. "You're just here for the food." Her smile dropped though, despite being glad that someone could make it. "I'm happy that you're here Koushiro but there is no dinner party. Everyone else was too busy to come. I guess I should've informed you just in case."

"Oh… Well, that's fine" Koushiro shrugged. "I told my parents that I was going to be out for dinner so why don't we make some together?"

Mimi couldn't help smiling as she let him in although she hadn't closed the door yet. "So what are all those groceries for?"

"Well, I figured that all the Digimon would eat a lot so I bought extra to prepare in case we run out really fast" Koushiro explained.

Suddenly, someone stopped the door just as it was about to close. "Sounds like we had the same idea then" Taichi grinned as he held up a couple of grocery bags himself. Standing by his side was Agumon who was holding two bags as well.

"These are bread from the Matsuda Bakery!" the orange dinosaur smiled.

"Taichi? I thought you had to work" said Mimi.

"Eh, Takato said he'd cover my shift when I told him about your dinner" Taishi shrugged. "Do you really think I was going to miss out on eating dinner that's not my mom's cooking? Speaking of which, Hikari should be here soon too."

"But she told me she had some work to do with the photography club" said Mimi. "Something about retaking ruined pictures."

"She said that you looked depressed and that she's speed through them just to make it here on time" Taichi said before letting himself in. "So let's get started on cooking up those turkeys!"

Taichi and Koushiro weren't the only ones who had the idea of dropping by as Yamato showed up, then Sora, then Takeru, then Jyou, and finally, Hikari.

"You would've burned down the house if we let you near the stove without supervision" Yamato joked.

Mimi was so happy now, she could cry. "I thought you guys have exams tomorrow."

"I'll cram on the train" Sora chuckled.

"Gomamon convinced me that spending time with friends is much better than studying all night long" Jyou smiled.

"My dad has been really annoying so I wanted to get out of the house, besides, I'll just wing it" Yamato shrugged.

"You've been spending way too much time with Taichi" Takeru laughed.

Mimi realized then that she was still in her school uniform so she quickly went upstairs to change. She stayed there for a couple of more minutes as she cried tears of joy. When she came back down, she saw that everyone was in the kitchen, trying to make dinner so she joined them.

They spent the next two hours just making dinner but thankfully, the Digimon didn't complain much about how starving they were as they were having fun just being together. As for the humans, they ended up making a mess in the kitchen when Taichi decided to throw flour at Yamato which spiraled into everyone throwing flour around just for fun.

"The eight of us haven't been together for a long time" Sora laughed as she wiped the flour off of herself.

"How long until the turkeys will be fully cooked?" Takeru asked.

"In about forty-five minutes" Hikari answered. "Why don't we go ahead and eat the other stuff first?"

"Great, I've already set the table" said Jyou.

As they sat around the long table with each human seated next to their partner, they just couldn't wait to start eating. Although right before they did, Koushiro stopped them all.

"Hold on, we can't just dive right in" said the redhead. "We need to say things that we are thankful for first."

"We already said 'thanks for the food' like we always do before every meal considering this is Japan" Taichi said.

"It's about what we're grateful for, we're not supposed to be just thankful for the food on the table" Yamato jabbed.

"It is a Thanksgiving tradition" Hikari giggled. "So, why doesn't Mimi start us off?"

Mimi blinked as they all turned to her. She always did this whenever she celebrated the holiday back in America but she would always say that she was thankful for having Palmon and her loving family. This time around, she wanted to say something different because there was something she was even more thankful for that just her parents or her partner.

She was thankful she went to that summer camp seven years ago that had changed her life. Thankful that Taichi could give her the courage to fight against Apocalymon. Thankful that Yamato was willing to break down his walls to be her friend. Thankful that Sora could give her love to carry on every single day. Thankful that Koushiro was around to spread his knowledge on the Digital World which she loved so much. Thankful that she could always rely on Jyou to be there when she needed him. Thankful that Takeru and Hikari were around to remind everyone that there was always hope and light somewhere. Thankful that she got to meet Daisuke and the gang and every single DigiDestined that had sent her a text while they were cooking wishing her a Happy Thanksgiving.

"I'm grateful…" Mimi started. "That everyone here is my friend and that even the ones who aren't here, are celebrating this wonderful holiday as well."


	6. Candles

**This chapter has romance depending on how you look at it but that's because this sixth prompt was only giving me one idea. It was also inspired by Ouran High School Host Club, one of my most favorite animes out there! I hope you all enjoy and please leave a review after the read.**

-X-

Chika watched as the other girls in her class freaked out about the millipede that one of the boys had brought in. It was a pathetic sight in her eyes considering the bug wasn't even doing anything other than squirm in his hand. When her classmate accidentally dropped the creature, that's when the entire class started to freak out.

"Why do Kouichi-kun, Ken-kun, and Jian-kun all have to be talking with sensei in the staff room right now?" one girl whined.

"Yeah, if they were here, they'd crush that thing easily" another girl agreed.

Chika groaned in irritation as she stood up and walked over to where the millipede was scurrying around. She grabbed her textbook and dropped it to the floor, crushing the bug and creating a loud BANG to resound.

"All of you are pathetic" Chika snapped. "And who even thinks it's a good idea to bring a millipede into class?!"

"Oh come on Chika, you're telling us that you're not afraid of anything?" a classmate asked.

"If you're asking about basic fears, then no, I'm not scared of anything" Chika scoffed. She was directly involved in many Digimon incidents five years ago concerning Kurata and Yggdrasil, her memory wasn't erased with DATS technology like ordinary civilians, so she wasn't exactly afraid of things like bugs anymore when she's seen that kind of stuff. "It's sad that you girls acted this way when it was still held up. It wasn't going to escape and kill you."

"Well, can you at least pick up the textbook and throw the bug out or something?" one of the girls asked.

"Ew, gross" Chika grimaced. "I may not be afraid of it but there is no way I am touching that stain. Besides, it's not even my textbook."

Just then, someone walked over to them and picked up the smashed book and some of the student screamed when they saw the crushed monstrosity underneath. "That's because it's mine" Jian sighed. "I'm not going to put this on my desk now. I'll just have to go get another one."

"You can share with mine for today!" a girl chimed.

"No, you should share with mine!" another girl said.

"Hey, I'm the one who sits next to him!" a third girl joined in.

Jian seemed to ignore them all as he usually did as he turned to Ken who sat on his other side. "Ken, is it okay if I share your textbook for today?"

"Yeah, no problem" Ken nodded.

Chika expected the girls to feel like they missed out on some amazing opportunity but instead, they were just holding their breath and their eyes were sparkling. "Is this the start of a boys' love relationship between them?"

"Not even close" Chika groaned.

"So what happened while we were gone?" asked Ken.

"Chika claims she's not afraid of anything" a guy stated.

Ken, Jian, and Kouichi glanced at each other. They had all gone through some scary things during their adventures but they couldn't exactly say they were fearless. Granted most of their fears weren't the normal things that other people were afraid of but it was hard to believe that Chika was almost fearless.

"What about spiders?" asked Jian. Chika shook her head.

"What about heights?" inquired Ken. Chika shook her head.

"What about graveyards?" questioned Jian. Chika shook her head.

"What about Masaru coming in to school for career day?" broached Ken.

"That might scare me the day before but I'd die of embarrassment rather than be frightened" Chika answered before looking over to Kouichi who had been oddly quiet the entire time. "So what? You don't have any suggestions things I might be scared of?"

"No" Kouichi replied with a rather suspicious smile. "But I do have a brain teaser for you. Are there more downward or upward slopes in Japan?"

Chika had heard of many brain teasers before and never once had she ever gotten one wrong. "Easy, upward…Wait, that's not right. They're the same thing! You can't trick me Kouichi."

Kouichi was still giving her that same suspicious expression though. "Nope! You're wrong!"

"Eh?!" everyone in the classroom exclaimed. They were all fairly certain that Chika was right but no one was taking it harder than the girl who had answered the question in the first place.

"That's impossible!" Chika snapped.

At that moment, their teacher walked in so they all had to take their seats. During the entire time, Chika kept tapping her foot impatiently while trying to figure out the answer to Kouichi's brain teaser. The hours passed by so quickly and she just couldn't take it anymore by the time the last bell rang signaling the end of school.

"What's the answer to that stupid riddle?" Chika burst out.

"It's been bugging me all day too" Ken nodded.

"I'm positive that Chika's answer was correct though" Jian added.

Kouichi just shot them that same smile he had on since he told the teaser. "Chika was right. I just figured that the one thing Chika would be afraid of was being wrong considering she always boasts about how she gets every single answer correct on exams."

There was a long pause as they let those words settle in and Chika reacted by slapping Kouichi's face as hard as she could.

-X-

Ikuto watched as the flame on the candle danced on its wick. He flicked the lighter in his hand open and closed the same way that man, Yamaki, did. It was an old one that belonged to his dad when he had picked up smoking but quit a while ago. Ikuto now held on to it like it was some sort of keepsake and besides, it still had some fluids left so why not use it from time to time?

"_...We are going to be experiencing severe thunderstorms this evening so be careful when going out."_

Ikuto sighed as he turned off the television. His sister ran into the room and started bouncing on the couch. "Hey, what are you doing with that candle?" she asked in her squeaky voice.

"Nothing" Ikuto said as he blew it out. "And can you please stop jumping on the couch, its annoying Yuka."

Yuka pouted as she stopped bouncing. "You're mean nii-chan! I wish Chika-onee-sama would come home already!"

"Oi! Why did you add 'sama' at the end of her name?" Ikuto grumbled.

"Because she's actually fun to be around" Yuka chimed.

When the Noguchi family had moved from Hokkaido to West Shinjuku, Chika wanted to come along after asking permission from her parents of course. She ended up moving in with them for the last two years they had been there and has become part of the family. But then Masaru came back from the Digital World and has proclaimed that he would get an apartment in Shinjuku so that both he and his sister could stop bothering the Noguchi household, although Touma had already offered them to stay at the Norstein's Shinjuku estate.

"She'll be back when she's done with cram school" Ikuto told his sister irately.

"Ikuto, do you hate me?" Yuka asked innocently when he tried to leave the room.

The boy huffed when he saw Falcomon watching from the other room. "I don't hate you Yuka, I love you; really I do. I've just been stressed lately because I have a really important exam coming up and if I fail it, mom and dad are going to kill me."

"So you're going to ask Chika to help tutor you like you always do because she's smart and you're stupid?"

"Most brothers would bite back but you pretty much hit the nail on the head so I'm not going to bother." Ikuto missed ten years of the average learning process when his brain was still developing so he felt kind of stupid when he first started grade school. Not even the combination of Chika's and Touma's constant tutoring could help bring his grades up. "As for you Falcomon, stop hiding there and watching like we're some sort of drama."

"Actually" said Falcomon. "I was just coming here to tell you guys that Chika came home a few moments ago."

Ikuto noticeably lit up as he started on his way to the room his sister shared with Chika. "Perfect, I need to ask for her to help with me studying!"

His partner tried to stop him but it was already too late when he heard Ikuto open a door and then Chika screamed. There was a thump and then the blue-haired teen was tumbling down the stairs. "Ikuto, are you okay?"

"Why didn't you tell me she was changing?" Ikuto groaned.

"I tried to" Falcomon shrugged.

Chika finished up getting out of her school uniform, changing into her red hooded sweatshirt and gray shorts. She and Ikuto sat in the living room while she was tutoring him and talking about how annoying her classmates were being.

"So you're really not afraid of anything?" Ikuto inquired once the brunette had finished her story.

"Not unless failure counts as a phobia" Chika answered, still thinking about how stupid she was for falling for Kouichi's trick. "Are you scared of something?"

"Well I think everyone has a phobia of some sort" Ikuto replied. "But I guess what I'm afraid of most, other than seeing King Drasil again, would be fire."

Chika almost choked on her drink. "Seriously?!"

"When you were raised by a Digimon made entirely of snow, it's hard not be afraid of fire" Ikuto chuckled.

"Then you should probably stop carrying around that lighter and lighting candles all around the house" Chika pointed out.

Ikuto pulled out the lighter and sparked it, staring as the flame flickered. "I don't really know why I do that. Well, I guess I just like the scent of incenses or the scented candles mom have stored in the basement."

"Well then don't waste them!" Chika grinned. "You never know when we might need emergency candles and such."

"I guess so" Ikuto nodded as he shoved the lighter back into his pocket, after he turned it off of course. "So what about you? You can't seriously be afraid of nothing."

"I know it's hard to believe but I'm really not afraid of anything."

"So I was right all those times I said you weren't human."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Everyone has fears, are you some kind of monster not to be afraid of anything. You sure act like it sometimes."

This sort of went back and forth while Yuka and their partners watched them from the next room. It was starting to escalate and the audience was starting to wish they would've jumped in when the argument was still mild. Ever since Chika had moved in, they would always argue and things would always get out of hand because Ikuto would always say something to harsh for example…

"Why did you even come with me to Shinjuku?" Ikuto shouted as he shot up. "All you ever do is nag and complain about everything I do, why don't you just go home?!"

Chika sat there in silence before getting up and running out of the house. The door slamming was enough for them to know that she wasn't going to come back for a while.

"Nii-san… You didn't mean that did you?" Yuka asked.

"… No, of course I didn't… But all we do is fight… She never should've come with me here…" Ikuto huffed. "She'll be back soon though, don't worry, I'll apologize then."

Two hours passed and there was still no sign of Chika but there were several signs of the thunderstorm that the news had mentioned. It was around then that Ikuto was really getting worried since Chika didn't have an umbrella with her or her wallet to buy one. He was about to run out and look for her when her cell phone started ringing from inside the house.

"Hello?"

It was Masaru. _"Ikuto, where is Chika?"_

"She ran out of the house a little earlier because we got into a fight."

"_She did what?! Well do you have any idea where she is?"_

"No, but don't worry, she'll probably –."

"_No! You have to go out and find her; I'm busy at DATS so you need to go get her."_

Masaru's tone was oddly desperate and worried which in turn, concerned Ikuto as well but he didn't see why Masaru was so worried. Sure, he would be worried if it was Yuka but he didn't think he would sound like an overbearing parent. "Why? She can take care of herself."

"_Chika is terrified of thunderstorms!"_

"What?" Ikuto breathed. "But she just claimed that she wasn't afraid of anything."

"_You know how Yoshino is always saying that we can't be related because we're so different? Well here is how we're similar, we're both stubborn and have a lot of pride. Do you really think she would admit to being afraid of thunder?"_

Ikuto hung up and quickly rushed out of the house, calling all of the other DigiDesitined to see if they knew about her whereabouts. Falcomon and Piyomon took to the skies to see if they could find her from an aerial view. Ikuto just kept running all around town, not finding her anywhere until he made it to an abandoned church. He remembered taking Chika here to see the stars at night.

Ikuto entered the church desperately hoping to find Chika there and as he stood in the doorway, lightning struck, illuminating the room and causing a whimper to come from the corner. He walked towards the figure in the corner and found Chika there, shivering, with her hands over her ears. He was still breathing heavily from all of his running but that wasn't going to stop him from doing even more activity.

Ikuto pulled all the curtains so that none of the windows exposed the lightning and then he draped an old sheet around Chika to try and keep her warm after getting drenched. He stared at all the candles left at the altar and lit each of them, setting them around the two of them. Finally, he sat there with her, pulling her close to him while flames flickered around them.

"I'm sorry…" Ikuto whispered.

Chika stopped shaking and leaned into him despite how soaked he was. "I followed you here because I was worried about you. I knew you had trouble studying but you always try so hard that I wanted to help. You're always saying that you're not smart and that you can never make your parents feel proud so I wanted more than anything to prove you wrong about that."

"… Thank you Chika… I guess we both have similar reasons for following each other then…"

Chika nodded. "I guess we do."

The flickering candles danced around them as they sat there in the dimness, listening to rain pelt the roof. The thunder would sound every now and then and Chika would try her best to ignore it. She put all her focus on the dancing flames in front of her.

"I'm glad I'm not scared of these candles" Ikuto chuckled.

Chika glanced over to him. "That reminds me, if you tell anyone that I'm afraid of thunder, I'll kill you."

Ikuto chuckled, knowing that she would say something like that sooner or later. "I promise I won't."


	7. Dinner

**Yay, another update! I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please leave a review!**

-X-

"It's fine, really" Ryouma said for about the fifth time on the phone. "I know you guys are busy and besides, there's always next month… Yeah, okay, I'll talk to you tonight then. Bye…" He hung up the phone and collapsed onto the couch.

He glanced over to his Xros Loader which beeped. "Ryouma, what's wrong?" asked Cerberumon.

"Nothing's wrong" Ryouma replied unconvincingly.

Triceramon snorted. "You can't fool us, you know. We have a pretty good idea of how you are when you're depressed."

"Don't say something like that!" Cerberumon growled at his tactless teammate.

Ryouma sat up and picked up the rectangular device. "You know, none of you guys even have to be here anymore. Jagamon and a lot of the others have already left my Xros Loader a long time ago so why are you guys still here? I'm not a Hunter anymore."

"That doesn't matter to us" said DinoBeemon. "You hunted the five of us and we swore loyalty to you. We would never leave you no matter how many times you tell us too. Now, I would just like to remind you that we're all here for you so you should talk to us when something's wrong."

Ryouma sighed as he stared at the faces of the only five Digimon that had decided to stay with him inside of his Xros Loader, Cerberumon, Triceramon, DinoBeemon, MarineDevimon, and Parrotmon. He would be lying if he had said that he didn't want them to be around because he was actually thankful they were willing to keep him company even after everything that had happened. "It's just; you guys know how my parents are barely ever home because of work. Well, every month, we have one special day to have a family dinner and tonight was supposed to be that evening but then my mom called and told me…"

"They're too busy to come home" Parrotmon finished for him.

"Hey, don't take it personally, at least they care enough to do something like this" MarineDevimon said.

Cerberumon nodded. "Didn't Yuu say that he lived on his own and barely ever got to see his father?"

Ryouma nodded, it didn't help much but he did have to keep reminding himself that his parents cared enough to put one day a month just for family time at least. "I need to take a walk to clear my head a bit." He grabbed his Xros Loader and walked out of his apartment.

-X-

Gabumon snuck out of the Ishida apartment to take a walk around the block a bit. He knew he wasn't allowed to go out since the Digimon were once again supposed to be a secret but he couldn't help it. Yamato was busy at school for about another hour and Ishida-san wouldn't be home from work until the middle of the night. It was apparently extremely busy at the television network where Yamato's father worked today.

Gabumon just needed some time to stretch his legs; it wasn't healthy for a growing mon to be stuck inside all the time. And things were going well for him so far, his senses hadn't dulled over the years so he was able to take cover whenever he heard, saw, or even smelt a human coming towards him.

His luck soon ran out when he came out of his hiding spot and froze. Standing a few yards away was a boy who was about four years younger than his own partner. And the two of them were now stuck in a staring contest, one of them with an expression of shock and the other with an expression of nervousness.

"Psychemon?" the human whispered.

Gabumon blinked. Anyone who had watched the television show made from the DigiDestineds' memories would know that he was a Gabumon. "Um, I think you have the wrong Digimon…" Gabumon mentally slapped himself, he shouldn't have talked. Now the human knew for sure that he was an actual Digimon and not some high-tech mechanical robot.

The boy's face fell when he heard Gabumon speak. "You're not Psychemon…" He shook his head, turned on his heel and started running away.

A few gears started turning in Gabumon's head. The name Psychemon had sounded familiar to him because the Hunters had mentioned it during a meeting with all the Chosen Children. This boy must've been Psychemon's partner which meant that he was Ryouma Mogami.

"Wait!" Gabumon called as he chased after him. "I didn't mean to remind you of a bad past!"

Ryouma was surprised that the Digimon could catch up to him with his short legs. And when Gabumon caught up, he grabbed Ryouma's hand and started pulling him towards the apartment building nearby.

"What are you doing?" Ryouma asked. He felt something moist on his cheeks and realized he was crying.

"I can't stand the thought of hurting someone" Gabumon replied. "I want to make it up to you somehow."

"It's fine…" Ryouma shook his head. He already figured out that this particular Digimon was the partner of Yamato Ishida so he knew that he could trust him at least. "I should've known better. Psychemon is never coming back…"

Gabumon didn't respond although he didn't like hearing someone sound so negative. It's not like his own partner didn't have his own record for being a pessimistic.

The pair finally made it to the Ishida apartment, surprisingly without being seen by any other humans. Ryouma was more than confused but he didn't fight it since he really didn't have anything better to do. Then again, it's probably not the smartest idea to enter a stranger's home.

Once the two of them had settled down at the dinner table, the two of them started talking.

"You shouldn't say that Psychemon would never come back" Gabumon said. "You never know when it comes to Digimon. A Tamer by the name of Juri though she had lost her partner forever but he came back. And another Chosen Child, Masaru thought that his partner would forget about him after being reborn but he didn't. You should never lose hope like that."

"But even if Psychemon's still out there, he wouldn't remember me because we were never involved with each other" Ryouma huffed, feeling the tears coming back. "It was always Quartzmon who was pretending to be my partner…"

Gabumon took a tissue and gave it to the boy who used them wipe away the tears and blow his nose. "Ryouma, can I ask you, why do your other partners stay with you even though you say you're not a Hunter anymore?"

"I ask them that all the time" Ryouma sniffed.

"To us, you are our Hunter" Cerberumon answered.

"We became your Digimon because you believed you could bring out our true power" MarineDevimon added.

"But then we became more, we became your friends" Parrotmon told him.

"That's why we can never leave you" Triceramon finished.

Ryouma choked back the new tears that were coming but it wasn't because he was sad. He just never heard that from his partners before. He had been so cruel to some of them because he believed they wouldn't make him strong like Taiki but he grew attached to some of them. Then he became ashamed whenever he thought about how he had treated some of the other Digimon like Jagamon. He was riddled with gratitude for the partners who stayed with him and guilt for the ones who left.

"Thank you" he said in a low voice. He then looked up at Gabumon. "Where's your partner?"

"He's still at school" Gabumon answered. "So I decided to walk around the block to kill time but please don't tell him that I was out of the apartment. He'd probably get really mad at me."

Ryouma chuckled. "It must be lonely then… Your partner has to go to college and he doesn't come home until much later while his dad works several hours and into the night. I suppose I understand how that feels."

"Really? But you have your partners with you all the time, don't you?" Gabumon blinked.

"I do" Ryouma nodded. "It's just…" He looked down into his lap and fiddled with his Xros Loader. "My parents aren't home much so I barely ever get to see them. They take one night every month to come home and have a special family dinner. Today was supposed to be that day of the month and they can't come home."

"Oh…" Gabumon's ears drooped slightly. He knew how Yamato could be whenever his dad would come home extra late but Yamato would always try to stay up as late as possible just to have dinner with him. It was sweet but sometimes, Yamato would really need the rest. "You're right, it does get lonely… So why don't we keep each other company?"

Ryouma smiled. "I think I'd like that. I'll go once your partner comes back." He then paused and started sniffing the air. "What is that smell?"

"I think that might be the last of last night's casserole" Gabumon answered as his eyes were drawn to the kitchen sink. "I think it's trying to escape the garbage disposal."

Ryouma walked over to the pile of dishes in the sink. That's when he realized how much of a mess the entire apartment was. He had seen the show and he had seen the Ishida apartment but he never expected it to look like this. "I think it's still stuck on these plates. When was the last time these were washed? Actually, when was the last time anything was washed?"

Gabumon took a few seconds to think about it. "I think when Mimi came to visit two weeks ago and cleaned the entire place for us. Yamato promised to keep things clean but then he got busier so he forgot to keep that promise."

Ryouma nodded. "Well, I guess I'll just have to lend a hand around here."

"Oh, no you don't have to do that" Gabumon said, taking on the same tone Hiroaki did whenever they had visitors saying they'd do something to help.

"It's not a problem for me" Ryouma replied and with that, he set off washing the dishes while talking with Gabumon about random things but mostly of their own respective adventures. It wasn't long until a whole hour had passed by and Yamato showed up at the door.

"Gabumon, I'm home" Yamato yawned as he entered his dwelling. "What do you want for dinner?" He froze when he saw the stranger in the house. "Hello…"

"I'm sorry for intruding on your home like this" Ryouma chuckled nervous. "I'll be on my way home."

"Did you clean up my apartment?" Yamato asked when he noticed how everything was sparkling around him.

Ryouma nodded. "I thought I could do some spring cleaning around here."

"I think you mean fall cleaning" Gabumon said.

"Gabumon, you went outside today, didn't you?" Yamato inquired.

Gabumon was about to make some sort of excuse but one look from his partner told him that he should just tell the truth. "Yes…" he sighed. "But I swear, no one saw me except Ryouma."

Yamato recognized the name instantly. "So you're Ryouma Mogami, the Hunter that Tagiru mentioned?"

"I suppose so" Ryouma nodded. "I'll be on my way home."

"Wait" Gabumon said, grabbing the younger boy's hand. "Since you're parents aren't going to be home tonight and it's just going to be me and Yamato for a while, why don't you stay and have dinner with us? Yamato is a great cook!"

Ryouma shook his head. "No, there's no need for that. I can get along just fine."

Yamato grabbed the younger boy's arm and sat him down. "You sit and talk with Gabumon while I cook dinner. Besides, I could use some company. Having just my dad and Gabumon here can get a bit lonely and I'm sure you can relate if your parents aren't home either."

"I don't want to trouble you."

"It's no trouble at all."

Ryouma felt awkward sitting there with the two of them but they talked to him as if they had been friends for years. It definitely made Ryouma feel more comfortable. But he also felt like he didn't deserve this kindness.

"I should really be going" Ryouma sighed.

"Already?" said Gabumon.

Yamato knew the expression that Ryouma wore; it was one of guilt and pain, one he used to wear often when he was younger. "Is there something you'd like to get off your chest?"

Ryouma had wanted to shake his head and be on his way but he felt this sudden need to pour his heart out. "I don't deserve your hospitality. Two years ago, during the Quartzmon incident, I betrayed everyone. I turned around and attacked Taiki and I destroyed the only weapon capable of defeating out enemy. It was only pure luck that Tagiru was able to bring it back and win the fight. But if it weren't for me then things wouldn't have gone as badly."

The older boy took this in and nodded in understanding. "You should stop blaming yourself for something that was out of your hands. You were being manipulated; you weren't doing it out of your own free will unlike me."

Ryouma blinked, had he heard right. "What do you mean?"

"Didn't you watch the show?" Yamato chuckled humorlessly. "I tried to kill Taichi during our first adventure. I betrayed everyone on my own free will and yet, they forgave me. It was the same for Oikawa and even Ken. We've done horrible things that we personally thought were unforgivable and yet, our friends stood by us."

"What I did was unforgivable…"

"You only think it is" Yamato corrected. "The truth is, you're the only person who thinks that while your friends spoke so highly of you during the gathering of the Chosen Children." Ryouma wasn't quite sure what to say so he just let the blonde continue. "I don't expect you to forgive yourself right away but give it time. Now, why don't you sit back down so we can finish dinner?"

Ryouma did as he was asked and sat back down. He continued eating the home cooked meal with a smile. It reminded him of his own mother's cooking and it reassured him that he wasn't alone as he clutched onto his Xros Loader tighter. "I'm glad… I'm never really alone, am I?"

"No, you're not…"


	8. Breakfast

**Has it really been two week? Sorry for the wait, inspiration was being a butt. Enjoy this new one and please leave a review after the read.**

-X-

When Shaochung got out of bed, she felt something different about that day. As she glanced around her room, she was able to figure out what it was when she realized that Lopmon was sleeping on the floor. Late last night, she had to run out and help Tomoki and Iori with a wild one and they ended up crashing in the Lee residence. It was a good thing her parents, Jaarin, and Jian were all visiting relatives in Kyoto for the weekend.

"Shaochung" called someone from the kitchen. She glanced outside her bedroom and saw Iori standing there with his jacket midway on his body. "Thanks for letting me sleep here. I already re-made Jian's bed so you won't have to."

"It's fine" Shaochung yawned. "Where did Tomoki and Shinya crash last night? I can't really remember and I'm still groggy."

Shinya, Takuya's younger brother, had apparently tagged along with Tomoki so they ended up having to protect him so he wouldn't get caught up in the battle.

"I'm not sure" Iori shrugged. He didn't really know the layout of the Lee's apartment so he wouldn't know which room was which but he had some idea of where the younger boys had gone. "I think they might've fallen asleep in your sister's room."

"They did know that there were two rooms available, right?" Shaochung inquired.

The two of them walked to Jaarin's bedroom and found that indeed, Tomoki and Shinya had fallen asleep in her older sister's bed. Iori was about to go forward and wake them up but then the ten year old girl stopped him. Shaochung pulled out her phone and took a picture of them, with Shinya's arm around the Warrior of Ice.

"Is that necessary?" Iori asked.

"No" Shaochung admitted with smile. "But it is very satisfying."

Tomoki's eyes fluttered open upon hearing the two of them talk. When he realized the position he was in, he threw Shinya's arm off of him, waking the other boy up as well.

"What happened?" Shinya gasped as he started looking around the unfamiliar room.

"We fell asleep" Tomoki answered. "Our parents must be worried sick."

"Don't worry" said Shaochung. "Before Rinchei went to bed, he called both of your parents to tell them were you guys were. It must be tough having parents who don't know about your involvement with Digimon or the existence of Digimon for that matter."

Tomoki shrugged. "It's not all bad… I'm glad they don't have to worry about me or anything."

"That's true" Iori nodded. "My mother is always thinking that I might die whenever I leave the house to fight a Digimon." He turned and was about to leave the room. "Speaking of whichm I should probably be getting back home. I don't want to trouble Shaochung any longer and you guys should probably do the same."

Shinya groggily fell to the floor. "Wait… Shibuya is extremely far from here. Shouldn't we have breakfast before going anywhere?"

"I am hungry" Tomoki muttered before shaking his head. "But I don't want to take anymore generosity from our hosts than we already have."

"Tomoki is right" Iori added. He was about to exit when both his and Tomoki's stomachs growled rather loudly along with Armadimon in the next room over. The oldest boy felt the heat rush to his cheeks when he felt Shaochung's eyes on him. "I'll be fine. Besides, Odaiba is just the next town over."

Shaochung rolled her eyes and shook her head. "You guys can all freshen up in the bathroom down the hall. Then sit yourselves down in the dining room or watch some television in the living room. I'll be waking up my brother so we can have breakfast."

"You don't have to" Iori tried to say but Shaochung was already gone.

As the boys got themselves ready for the day, Shaochung was in the kitchen. They were pretty surprised to find that she was the one making breakfast while her older brother sat at the coffee table. It seemed like Rinchei was working on a manga since after graduating from Yagami High, he started creating his own manga and now his hit was being published by the famous Marukawa Publishing Company.

"Do you need any help making breakfast?" Iori asked the Tamer.

Shaochung shook her head. "No need, I'm usually the one who makes the meals in this house anyway."

"Really?" the boys questioned.

Rinchei called them over to the living room. "She's the best chef in this apartment. It's rather impressive really."

"Wow" Tomoki nodded in an impressed tone. "I had heard that each of the Lee siblings had their own talents but I didn't know Shaochung could cook."

Rinchei glanced over to his little sister and gave a sort of sad smile which they all seemed to have caught. "Unlike the rest of us, she has a wide range of talents. I draw, Jaarin's an athlete, while Jian is a genius. Shaochung has a mix of all those talents along with Takato's baking, Ruki's musical prowess, and Ryo's acting. But the only talent she performs and actually looks content while doing it, is when she's making breakfast."

"I've noticed that" Iori nodded. "Whenever she's acting in a show with Ryo, you never get the feeling that she's actually happy."

Tomoki nodded. "Yeah, and I've seen her play piano but she always looks like she's about to break down crying."

"It's because she hangs out with all of us so much" Rinchei told them. "You see, when she's seen with any of us, her talent becomes overshadowed and she is compared to us. Constantly, she hears that she's not as good as someone else or that she could be as good as someone else. Worst of all is when she is compared to her siblings. It makes her think that she's the failure in the family which isn't true but she doesn't believe it."

"So why is she only happy when making breakfast?" asked Shinya.

"Because she was once compared to Ruki's grandmother who made the best lunch and dinner ever served" Rinchei sighed. "Breakfast seems to be her only happy talent."

Iori suddenly stood up and walked into the kitchen while everyone else just watched him go. He paused by the door and stared as the youngest person in the house was making them food. He cleared his throat to get her attention and what he said next made everyone in the living room gasp in horror.

"You know there are a lot of chefs better than you are."

Shaochung was speechless but then she turned away from Iori. Her smile had changed into a bitter expression but she didn't seem mad like she usually did. "I know that" she muttered. "But I can just pretend that there's no one else better if I'm not compared to anyone else."

Iori walked over to her. "Do you enjoy acting?" When he received a slight nod from her, he continued. "What about playing the piano or baking?" She nodded again. "So why are you going to be bitter whenever you perform those talents?"

"What are you trying to get at?"

"When you get compared to someone who has more experience and a much bigger passion, you sulk and get angry about it. And then you're unable to put on a smile for something you actually enjoy doing. If anything, you should be using those comparisons to find your rivals."

Shinya leaned in closer to Rinchei. "Aren't you going to stop him?"

Rinchei shook his head, crossed his arms and watched closely. "Let's just see where this goes."

"What do you mean?" Shaochung asked as she put down the kettle.

"They should be your goals, not the people who make you seem bad" Iori answered. "In this world, it's nearly impossible to be dubbed the best in anything. You'll always find someone better than you at something. So you're always going to be compared to someone else. Does that mean even if you're second-rate, you're going to be all depressed about it?"

Shaochung didn't say anything for a long time. "You're like some sort of psychiatrist aren't you… Did you get all of that from your grandpa?"

Iori shook his head. "From my dad… He used to do kendo to and when I first started, I was a prodigy. I could beat everyone in my grandpa's class except the teacher himself. So when I experienced my first loss to my grandfather, my dad sat me down and told me those words. From then on, I aimed to become as good as my grandfather, rather than thinking that I'll never be as good. The point of your talents isn't so you can be the best, you know."

"It's true" Tomoki nodded and walked into the kitchen to join the two of them. "He's right. The point of having a certain talent is to enjoy it. That wouldn't even make it a talent really; it's more like a pastime if you have fun with it. So stop trying to make it some sort of competition."

"I'm not!" Shaochung argued. "But the people around me are."

"You know… You're just pushing away certain people who can help you improve in your talents" her brother pointed out as he came into the kitchen as well. "Besides, you try to do everything by yourself and whenever you see someone who is better than you try to help out, you ignore them. Well, none of us are better than you at cooking but why don't we join you in making breakfast?"

Shaochung gave them a small smile before changing it into a smug one. "Okay, but you guys are going to have to keep up with me. I'm still the best chef in this apartment."

"We'll see about that" Tomoki chuckled. "I'm not too bad of a cook."

"Hey, making a burger in the Digital World shouldn't count" Shinya laughed.

The five of them set of to making breakfast together, possibly making more than they actually needed although Upamon was pretty much a bottomless pit, so they could feed him the leftovers. Once breakfast was finally made, they all sat together and starting to chow down.

"Oh man" Tomoki said through a full mouth. He realized his bad manners and quickly swallowed before continuing. "Everything that Shaochung made by herself is absolutely amazing! I don't know how, but Shinya, you messed up the toast."

"Hey! You helped me with that!" Shinya retorted.

"I think I messed up the eggs a bit" Iori chuckled.

"Nah, it's fine, it seems Upamon likes them" Rinchei pointed out.

They looked towards the tiny Digimon who was enthusiastically taking a bite out of everything that had been prepared that morning. "Yup! Everything tastes delicious! Especially since everyone worked together in making it!"

Shaochung was glad that everyone seemed generally happy with their final product of breakfast, even if she didn't get to do it all by herself. It was a lot of fun just fooling around with everyone while making food. Somehow, she ended up in a play fight with her brother and they got eggs all over their shirts. But it was at that moment, sitting at the table, that she realized something, or more specifically, someone, was missing.

"Where's Lopmon?"

"I'm right here" her rabbit partner yawned as she entered the kitchen. "I just woke up and found myself on the floor. And then I smelled food so I just followed my nose here."

"I swear, you're becoming more like Terriermon every day" Rinchei chuckled as he helped her into a seat.

"Did Shaochung make all of this?" Lopmon asked when she made herself comfortable.

"Actually, everyone here helped out" Shaochung replied. "The pancakes in front of you were made by Iori and Tomoki."

Lopmon took a bite out of the pancakes and sat back down in thought, as if assessing the taste without verbally communicating how she felt about it. "It's not bad, but I think Shaochung's pancakes are the best. Actually, everything she makes will always be better than anything else I've had."

Shaochung paused. "Wait, you've had Ruki's grandmother's cooking before and Takato's bread. But you think my food is the best?"

"Of course" Lopmon nodded. "I'm always looking forward to a meal that you make."

"That's the other thing about having a talent" Iori chuckled, prompting everyone to look at him, although he was only directing himself towards Shaochung. "There will always be someone who thinks you're number one. Even if they're a little biased, they will always see you as the best."

Shaochung nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I guess I've never noticed because I was too distracted thinking about the people who think I'm not the best."


	9. Bath

**It's time for a new chapter! I don't know what to say but I will say this. Last week, I turned seventeen, yay! One year closer to voting eligibility…I don't think I'm going to vote anyway. Anyway, I hope you'll all enjoy this new chapter and don't forget to leave a review!**

-X-

Kiriha sighed as he sunk further into the water. It has been a pretty stressful day for him, going out to Karuizawa to conduct business as the head of the Aonuma group and then having to finish up all his homework for the week. Not to mention that rogue Digimon that had appeared. Thankfully, Zenjirou had been there for a family retreat for the weekend and Masaru and Touma were sent there to assist.

For now, Kiriha just had to relax in the public bath at the hotel he was staying at. Hopefully he could stay this calm for the rest of his stay in Karuizawa.

But Kiriha knew how awful his luck was when it came to things like this.

"Kiriha, you're staying in this hotel too?"

The blonde groaned as he turned his head a few degrees to the left with an indifferent expression. "Hi Zenjirou. So you and your family are staying in this hotel?"

"Yeah, pretty much" Zenjirou nodded.

"Well next time do me a favor and keep your towel on until you're in the bath."

Zenjirou muttered something under his breath as he joined the other boy in the bath. He knew that he and Kiriha never really got along before but he was hoping something had changed after their adventures. Then again, Kiriha disappeared to America for a few years so he supposed a friendship couldn't really form if they barely interacted. Come to think of it, Zenjirou actually had no idea why Kiriha was in America in the first place.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" inquired Zenjirou. The lack of response from Kiriha told him to go on. "What were you doing in America for all those years? I mean, I didn't care so much but Taiki was wondering for a long time."

"I already told Taiki why I was there."

A vein appeared on Zenjirou's forehead. "Well can you fill me in on it then?"

"I thought you didn't care."

Another vein. "You know, sometimes, you can be really annoying."

"That's a two-way street most of the time." A third vein but Kiriha didn't let him reply. "But if you must know, I was in America trying to rebuild the Aonuma group from the ground up since most of my father's men went there after his death. After three years of hard work, I was finally able to revive the group as the head which makes me very busy most of the time. To be perfectly honest, I kind of wish I could go back to when I had more free time but I know it's for the best."

Zenjirou paused to think about this, suddenly feeling bad for the other boy. "Are you sure? I mean, you must enjoy the company of your friends."

"Of course I do" Kiriha nodded solemnly. "But this is something I want to do. It doesn't sit well with me to just leave everything my father worked so hard for in ashes. He built the Aonuma group from scratch which took years of his life and within a single day, it was shattered. I couldn't just leave it like that."

Zenjirou was surprised. He actually shared something in common with Kiriha, this sense of responsibility and nobility; it was something that was so common in modern-day Japan anymore. Zenjirou was just about to apologize for ever saying certain rude things about Kiriha before but then they heard someone rushing into the bath.

Just then, Masaru leaped right into the bathwater, creating a large splash that engulfed the two members of Xros Heart.

"Masaru!" Kiriha shouted in irritation while Zenjirou just laughed in amusement. Kiriha turned on the other boy with an angry expression, which also happened to be his neutral expression but this was one of those times when you could tell he was mad. "How do you find this funny?"

"I don't get why you're being such a drag" Zenjirou retorted. "We're in a bath! We were wet to begin with."

Kiriha groaned. "Ugh, I swear, I'm surrounded by fools sometimes."

Just then, Touma arrived at the public bath and he stared at the group of three in the water. "Masaru, I told you not go jumping into the bath like that."

Masaru frowned. "Why not?"

"Because you would've disturbed the other people here and clearly you did exactly that" Touma replied coolly. "After five whole years of living in the Digital World, I thought you would've grown up a little. But you're still the same immature Neanderthal you always were."

"And you're still the same boring stickler you always were" Masaru shot back.

Touma dropped himself into the bath at the exact same time he threw his towel at Masaru's face, making sure that the area that had been covering the doctor's crotch landed in the worst possible place. According to Touma's plan, which was executed perfectly as usual, Masaru would start screaming as if his skin was melting and that was exactly what was happening. The three simply watched as the brunet threw the towel off of his face and across the room.

"Geez, you two are making a big deal out of nothing" Zenjirou remarked.

"We're not making a big deal out of anything" Touma replied. "I was just trying to tell Masaru that he should be respecting others. Obviously, Kiriha didn't appreciate getting soaked by Masaru's cannonball."

"Well I'm sorry, maybe I should give you a ten-thousand word written apology to you blondes" Masaru mocked. "Geez, even though the stereotypes are that Japanese people are supposed to be super proper, it seems the foreigners are the actual ones who are 'proper'."

Kiriha blinked. "How do you know I'm not Japanese?"

"We added all of your personal information into the DATS database and I may or may not have taken a peek at everyone's" Masaru admitted, knowing what would come next from his fellow DATS member.

"Those are all private!" Touma shouted. As he continued, Masaru began to mouth everything the Austrian was saying so that their mouth movements were in perfect sync. "Stop that! How do you know what I'm going to say? You're getting on my nerves."

Touma finally learned that the only way to stop Masaru from mimicking him was to just keep quiet. The two of them stared at each other for a long time before both Masaru and Zenjirou burst out laughing, causing the two blondes to feel even more irked than before.

"You two are really annoying" Kiriha and Touma said simultaneously.

"And you two should try to have fun once in a while" the other two said in response.

Kiriha was sick of arguing so he decided to move away from all of them just like he used to. It's not like he was repeating the whole lone wolf routine, pretending he didn't need anybody, but sometimes, he just had to get away from company. He was hoping that being alone would help him feel better, but instead, he just felt lonely. This dark feeling as he listened to Masaru make jokes and eventually prompting Touma to laugh, not at the jokes but at the part when Masaru accidentally hit his arm against the wooden flooring.

Zenjirou watched his teammate from afar, suddenly remembering their earlier conversation about how Kiriha barely had time to spend with friends anymore. Here he was at such a luxurious hotel away from schoolwork and Digimon hunting, yet Kiriha was all by himself. Now wasn't the time to be playing the lone wolf act, now was the time to learn about the people around him.

"What do you want?" Kiriha asked when he heard Zenjirou approach him.

"You probably think we have nothing in common, huh." It was more of a statement than it was a question.

"There are obvious traits we share" Kiriha sighed. "Like, how we both want to protect the Digital World or how we both want to protect our friends. But those are basically given traits for a Hunter or at least a Chosen Child."

Zenjirou shook his head with a small smile. "No, I'm talking about the commonalities we share even before either of knew about the Digital World. You had this noble sense to protect your father's reputation, kind of the same way I wanted to protect my school's reputation after we had lost to Taiki's kendo team. It was a rather embarrassing defeat and I felt humiliated so I wanted to rescue my school from defeat."

Kiriha paused as he let this sink in. It was true. After his father's men had left him all alone, he felt humiliated and completely defeated but most of all, he had felt like he had failed his father in some way. That's why he had tried so hard to get stronger, not for his father's approval but to try and save the Aonuma name.

"I'm sorry."

Zenjirou blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

"You're not as annoying as my initial impression made you out to be" Kiriha clarified.

Masaru waded over to them after some persuasion from Touma. "Hey, Kiriha, I just wanted to apologize for suddenly jumping into the water the way I did. I didn't mean to get you irritated, I was just… Well, I was just acting as if this was my home so don't take it personally."

"No problem" Kiriha chuckled. "I shouldn't have gotten so annoyed in the first place. You were just enjoying yourself."

"I'm sure you were acting more like you were still in the Digital World than you were at home" Touma muttered. "I've seen your bathtub, if you were to jump into there the way you did here, you'd end up with more concussions than a daredevil."

Usually Masaru would find some sort of response but instead he ended up laughing a bit along with the others. The atmosphere soon became much lighter to Zenjirou's liking as if Taiki was around to settle any dispute or negativity. It was nice to just relax and not act as if your own friends were your enemies.

"You know…" Masaru said. "The last time I was in the bath with another person was the day right before the Digimon had to go back to their world. I was with Ikuto and he was worried that after Falcomon was gone and he had to do things like a regular kid, he wasn't going to fit in. He was afraid that he would be some sort of outcast."

Kiriha seemed to watching Masaru intently and waited patiently for a reply. After all, when Kiriha was basically left as an orphan, he didn't have the pleasures of private school or homeschooling like before so he had to go to enroll into a public school. It was a definite change and his attitude didn't exactly help with making the shift easier. He was always the outcast.

"What did you tell him?" Zenjirou asked.

"I gave him the best advice possible" Masaru grinned.

"Knowing you, I know it's bound to be awful" said Touma.

Masaru shook his head. "I couldn't give him any real advice because I was an outcast myself. My classmates would either see me as too violent or too much of a delinquent so they often avoided me. But I knew that I shouldn't have to change just to fit in with them. So I told Ikuto that if they couldn't handle his quirks, then forget about being friends with them because Touma, Yoshino, Chika, and everyone else who would remember Digimon would never forget about him."

Touma's eyebrows raised showing that he was actually pretty impressed by his teammates level of maturity. "That's actually pretty good."

Zenjirou looked over to Kiriha. "Taiki wanted to be your friend despite the way you treated us, right?"

Kiriha chuckled. "He's an idiot… But I suppose that's one of his better qualities."


	10. Blanket

**Hooray for new chapters! Boo to college applications and the damned SAT! But I still have to take it. Anyway, I hope you guys all enjoy this one. This was inspired by Skip Beat! Which I have been recently reading and man it better get an update soon! I hope you guys enjoy and don't forget to drop a review!**

-X-

Nene sighed as she stared at the older teen lying on the couch in the waiting room. She had promised to watch him when he came down with the cold but she was going to have to leave soon. The variety show her manager had planned for her was about to start shooting and she was their guest.

"What were you thinking?" the idol huffed for about the third time.

Ryo stared back at her and sniffed. He pulled the blanket over his mouth to muffle his speech but she could still hear his voice, no matter how nasally it came out. "I was thinking I could get through the rain scene perfectly fine."

The two of them were starring in a drama and in one scene, Ryo's character was standing in the pouring rain (Not actual rain, just effects but it was real water) confessing his love to Nene's character. While Ryo had to play the scene in nothing but the clothes on his back, Nene at least had an umbrella.

"You were already sick and you just made it worse" Nene scolded.

"It's the actor's job to try his hardest not to prolong the shooting anymore than it already was" Ryo argued.

Nene realized that he had suddenly become really serious despite his pathetic-looking state. She had to admit though; it was rather impressive how he went about his day. Not only was he able to successfully play out the scene without any retakes, but he did so without coughing or sneezing, unlike when the cameras were off. He was just a boatload of germs then. As for today on the variety show, as soon as the cameras were off for commercial, his smile vanished and he passed out. She had never met an actor who took his job more seriously.

"You really are an amazing actor though" Nene nodded approvingly. "There's no way I could ever match up to you."

In the music industry, it was easy to climb to the top so she became popular very quickly thanks to the help of her manager. But as an actress, she really struggled. Her music career helped her gain popularity but it became obvious to her that her acting was lackluster in comparison to the veterans of this industry. She's only been acting for two years; she was a newbie to people like Ryo who had been acting for more than twice her career.

"Don't talk like that" Ryo coughed.

Nene she shouldn't but she couldn't help it. "When we were shooting for Dark Moon, I saw how Mogami-san and Tsuruga-san played their characters, I was absolutely blown away. I realized then that I could never be an actress worthy of being called better than Nana Yukina."

"I know you'll be able to surpass your mother one day" Ryo told her. Nene wasn't so sure. "Let me tell you a story. When I first started out acting, I believed I was awesome. I was praised by directors and fellow actors but then I was cast in the same movie and Tsuruga-san. He put on flawless performances, leaving me awestruck. I couldn't believe it, I could portray emotions realistically, but he could portray emotions and then make you feel exactly what someone interacting with him would feel. If his character felt happy, so did the audience, if his character was scary, his audience would cower, if his character was funny, the audience laughs. I was put to shame."

"But Tsuruga is basically a veteran actor" Nene argued but Ryo shook his head.

"He's been an actor for a little over five years" Ryo replied. "I've been doing so for a little less but I'm not nearly as popular or talented as he is. I've still got a lot to learn."

"But you've learned a lot, haven't you?"

Ryo nodded. "But not enough."

Nene still felt discouraged. She wanted to catch up to actors like Ryo but the more she improved, the more he would too. She remembered how he told her that Tsuruga's performance on Dark Moon far exceeded his previous talents on other jobs.

"How do I catch up if you guys keep moving so fast?"

There was a long pause and the silence was only broken by a knock at the door and the show's mascot asking Nene to come out on stage. Nene got up to go but Ryo stopped her.

"Tell you what" he coughed. "As soon as you come back, we'll do a method acting exercise and I'll tell you what areas in which you need to improve, okay?"

Nene wasn't sure how to respond but she was needed in front of the camera in about two minutes so she simply nodded and was about to leave when he stopped her again. "What?"

"I need more blankets" he sniffled and then sneezed.

Nene giggled and quickly fetched some more blankets for him, covering him from head to toe. He kind of looked like a daruma doll when she was about to leave and she couldn't help remembering about the times whenever she was sick. Her mother would always take time off acting or singing jobs just to take care of her. She would wrap Nene in her favorite blanket and then read her a nice story. Nene smiled at the sweet memory as she left the room, closing the door behind her.

-X-

Nene hurried back to the waiting room, wondering how Ryo was going to put on act when he was mummified the way he was. Her question was answered when she opened the door to find all the blankets on the couch but Ryo was standing by the mirror.

"What are you doing out of those blankets?" she asked as she walked over to him. She stopped dead in her tracks when Ryo turned around. His eyes showed a longing in them and his posture had become much more casual compared to his hunched over self from earlier.

"I got worried when I woke up and found you weren't here" Ryo answered as he walked over to her. He caressed her hair affectionately and stared into her orbs. "I was going to go look for you after I checked to make sure my hair was okay but then you walked in. I'm glad."

That's when it clicked. Ryo meant it literally when he said they would do a method acting exercise as soon as she came back. This was Ryo's character from the drama they were doing earlier. His character is narcissistic, cares about appearances, but has feelings for Nene's character that he would shamelessly admit to the world. But the most defining trait of his would be the way he never smiled unless Nene's character complimented him or admitted she had slight feelings for him.

"I was just in the bathroom" Nene replied coolly. She quickly changed her posture as well to match the calm character she had played earlier. But Ryo simply sighed in exasperation as if she had done something wrong. "What?"

"Nothing" he huffed. "I just thought there was a more serious reason."

Nene tensed up. She had forgotten that her character hated embarrassing herself more than anything else, stating that she had been in the bathroom was very embarrassing but it was the first thing to come into her head. Obviously, she couldn't say she was on a variety show because her character wasn't supposed to be famous. She had to save herself!

"So what have you been doing?" she asked, ignoring what he had just said. She walked past him and to the mirror to start fixing her make-up.

Ryo approached her and wrapped his arms around her stomach, letting his lips graze her cheek. "All I've been doing was thinking of you."

"And fixing your hair was a way of thinking of me?" Nene asked in an insulted tone. This was good, try to trap him in a corner.

"I always try to look good for you" Ryo replied without missing a beat. "You deserve to see me at my best."

She turned to face him so that their faces were mere centimeters apart. "And what if I see you at your worst?"

Ryo paused a moment this time before bumping his forehead against hers. "You'd run from me like I was a typhoon."

Nene nearly reeled back; his forehead was burning up, more than before. It didn't make sense. How was it possible that this guy could still be standing at this moment? Just a little earlier, he could barely get off the couch or even sit up. He could only lie on his back like a body in a casket.

"I wouldn't do that" Nene said softly without even thinking.

He sighed again and took a few steps back. Nene had forgotten that her character played hard to get until just recently. But even when they got together, she still acted distant because that's what Ryo's character liked.

"Then should I show you my worst?"

Nene blinked. This was weird. The director never specified for Ryo's character to have a 'bad side', especially one compared to a typhoon.

"Show me" she shrugged, keeping her straight face but inside, she was very confused.

Ryo picked up a blanket and threw it over her head. Nene threw the sheet off quickly but when she did, she found that Ryo's hair had been undone in a matter of seconds and his clothes had become even more wrinkled than before.

"I don't see the typhoon comparison" Nene scoffed.

But then Ryo smiled, his character wasn't supposed to smile. Then she realized, he hadn't smiled earlier when she said she wouldn't run from him? What was happening? He pulled her towards him and hugged her, gripping into her back as if clawing at her but it was something along the lines of animalistic and intimate but it could not be considered one or the other.

"You asked to see my worst, did you not think you would experience it, my little angel?" he whispered roughly into her ear. "I warned you that you wouldn't like it."

"R-Ryo! What are you doing?" she yelped.

He pushed her onto the couch and then stared in her eyes, with the same longing expression but this time, there was an undertone of desire and lust. "I don't know who Ryo is but it breaks my heart that you call me by another man's name."

"Stop it!"

Ryo knelt down close to her and passionately planted a trail of kisses along her jaw line. "Is that really what you're asking me?"

Nene wanted to tell him yes but remembering that it was a method acting exercise, she had to remember her character and anything that character would do, not what Nene would. That's when she figured it out. Nene's character was strong-willed and played hard to get, not only because Ryo's character liked that, but because Nene's character despised anything to do with romance.

So Nene forcefully pushed him away and glared at him. "Never do that to me again!" she glowered. Her eyes gleamed with a ferocity that Nene didn't have but that her character did. She tilted her head to the side and slid her hand to her hip casually, speaking in a rather condescending tone. "I don't belong to you. You have to remember your place, your heart belongs to me and I have what it takes to crush it or to keep it beating."

Ryo started chuckling and that's when Nene knew the exercise was finally over.

"That was good" Ryo nodded. "It kind of reminded me of Ruki's attitude before she mellowed out."

"I'm still not sure what this was supposed to teach me" Nene sighed. "Is it about how you shouldn't break character no matter what or something?"

"No" Ryo shook his head but he was still smiling. "The point is to create a character that isn't lined out for you in the script. I noticed that in every role you received, you would always play it out the way the script or the director told you too. You have the creative freedom to invent your own freedom. If not, then actors wouldn't be actors, they'd just be mindless drones used for entertainment."

"I suppose so" Nene nodded, understanding what he was saying. "That does make sense."

"See?"

"But how did you learn this?"

Ryo became silent but he was still smiling, it was just a little sadder. "When I acted with Tsuruga, I was completely humiliated by certain things he told me. He said that I wasn't taking acting seriously enough so I could never surpass him. That really irked me so he made me go through a method acting exercise where he played an overbearing brother and I played the sensitive child. Needless to say, he surprised me over and over again by doing things that seemed out of character at the moment but when you really thought about, were perfectly right for the character."

Ryo's character was a rich boy who was pampered all his life. One day, he was bullied because of his wealth and they kept calling him 'pretty boy' as an insult. He cracked and he became less pretty, he became ugly on the inside and that was his worst. Nene had forgotten about this fact because this was the character's history, it had nothing to do with the drama which took place years after that.

"So I didn't expect you to warp into your twisted persona" Nene nodded.

"Right" Ryo nodded.

Nene felt glad now, happy that Ryo showed her a flaw in her acting and happy that Ryo was feeling better. But then she remembered he had been acting, he was still sick. As if to prove this, they both sneezed at the same time.

"Great" she sniffed. "I caught your cold."

Ryo grinned and then pushed her back onto the couch, pulling the mass of blankets over her. "Here, this'll make you feel better."

"So you say."

"So you told me."

"Thank you again, Ryo."

Ryo chuckled. "Don't thank me yet. Thank me after you get over your cold, and after you've applied your new skill to your next acting job."

"I will" she nodded. "I will put on a performance that'll really blow you away!"

"I can't wait for it."

Nene smiled as she pulled the blanket closer to her. She was reminded of her mother and why she had even gotten into the performing arts in the first place. _'And I plan on catching up to you as well. Just watch me, mom…'_


	11. Massage

**Inspiration decided to be a little bit evasive this time around but I got it down. It's kind of slow but I hope you enjoy and don't forget to review!**

-X-

Yoshino groaned as she wheeled her chair a meter away from her desk and started massaging her shoulders. It's been like this for quite some time, the stress of fighting wild ones was starting to get to her. Not to mention the sudden move from Hokkaido to Shinjuku and changing their base of operations into a joint headquarters with Hypnos. She could not believe that there was another government facility dealing with Digimon other than DATS.

"But I suppose the government has a lot of secrets" she muttered as she stretched out.

"Yoshino" Raramon chimed. "Are you feeling okay? You've been pretty stressed recently."

"I think we all have" Touma yawned. "But Raramon is right. Yoshino-san, maybe you should go take a rest or something. I'll cover your station, you don't have to worry about it."

Yoshino shook her head. Touma was already doing enough for her as it is, taking her in after she had been evicted from her apartment (She forgot to pay rent one month). Besides, last night, he was busy doing his job as a doctor, late at night typing up files and setting up his schedule. "No, I'll be fine" Yoshino waved off. "I just have to last for the rest of the day and my lunch break is coming up soon so I'll just take a short nap or something in the break room."

Why did Hypnos have a break room but DATS just had bedrooms? Yoshino remembered her first day and how she had actually fallen asleep in one of those rooms. That went well for a first impression with the commander. But right now, she really needed one of those beds.

It wasn't long before her break actually came, that was when Reika, an official from Hypnos came back in to fill her spot. It's not like they were scanning a single district or village in their country, they were responsible for all the digital anomalies in all of Japan which meant they had to have a big crew. They even had smaller stations built in the farther reaches of Japan.

But Yoshino was worried; those smaller factions had less experienced DigiDestined. It was true that a majority of digital appearances occurred within Tokyo but still, did all of the DigiDestined who saved the world have to be there? Not too long ago, they had to send their own to Karuizawa because a couple of Ultimate Digimon appeared and the only other DigiDestined stationed there could only reach the Perfect levels.

Her head started to hurt.

"Aspirin?"

Yoshino glanced over to her side and noticed Sora standing there with the Aspirin in her hand. "Sure."

"So, what's on your mind?" Sora continued as she sat down next to the older girl.

Yoshino didn't know the younger girl all too well but she knew that Sora was someone who was widely trusted among her group. Besides, Yoshino could really use someone to talk to at this moment. "I was just finding it hard to concentrate on work. I mean, we have all of these Digimon to take care of and most of our agents still have school."

"Agents?" Sora repeated.

"I don't even know why I referred to you guys as that."

"No, I kind of like it. I'm fairly certain that the younger kids, especially Takuya and Tagiru, would agree."

Yoshino smiled. They probably would, they were a lot like Masaru. "I guess I'm just really stressed out."

"Then you need a chance to unwind and relax" Sora chuckled. "What do you think about getting a massage with me this weekend?"

"A massage?" Yoshino inquired. "As in, at a spa? I don't know, I'm not really into things like that. They always sound too… girly, I suppose."

"Believe me, I thought so too. But one day, Mimi and Miyako decided to drag me to one and I actually had a lot of fun. It was also extremely relaxing. I was supposed to go with Mimi this weekend but she cancelled at the last minute."

"Ah. So in other words, you have a coupon used for two people and it expires after this weekend."

"I'm guessing you and I think a lot alike."

"I'm betting we do."

"So, how about it?"

"You know what? What the hay! I could go for a massage."

"Great" Sora smiled. "So, who's picking up whom?"

"Well, I'm the one with a car but you're the one with the directions" Yoshino nodded. "How about if I drive to your house and you drive the car to the spa? You do have your license right?"

"Yeah" Sora nodded. "I just haven't driven a car in a while. Yamato and Taichi both won't let near the steering wheels of theirs. Not because I'm a bad driver but because they care more about their cars than they do about me. Not that I care that much, they're pretty much my private chauffeurs."

Yoshino laughed. "We do think alike!" Sora laughed with her.

-X-

Yoshino drove out to the Takenouchi residence and when Sora came out, she moved herself into the passenger seat. Sora was right, she wasn't a bad driver; she was doing better than most people Yoshino knew. *Cough* Masaru *Cough*!

They reached the spa in twenty minutes after talking a little bit about their adventures and their teammates. It was certainly a lot more enjoyable than Yoshino had been expecting and when it came to the massage, Yoshino felt a wave of self-consciousness hit her.

"Wait, are we supposed to strip down completely for the massage?" Yoshino asked.

Sora nodded. "Don't worry about it. Think of it as a public bath or a hot spring."

"But in those places, we have water covering our bodies."

"Well in this case, we have a towel."

"That is not very reliable in my opinion."

"Don't worry about it. We'll be in the same room. So even if our masseurs are guys, they won't try anything with both of us in the room."

"You don't know that."

"Don't worry, I'll ask for the same masseuse that Mimi does."

Yoshino didn't know why she was so worried but she certainly felt reassured by Sora. Yoshino wondered if she was always like that. Always so worried and concerned about things that may not have metter but felt like a big deal in her head. She knew that she had certainly become more relaxed by the end of her journey, after defeating Lord Drasil, but she supposed she couldn't always stay calm.

After their massages, they decided to just sit back in the sauna and relax.

"You know, I said that we think alike but I don't think that's right" Yoshino breathed as she leaned back. "You're a lot more level-headed than I am."

"I wouldn't think so" Sora chuckled. "I'm just more experienced in getting massages than you are."

"Is that something to be proud of?"

"It's not something to be ashamed of."

"No, I guess not" Yoshino nodded. "But that massage was definitely what the doctor ordered. I feel so much better!"

"Touma ordered you to get a massage?" Sora asked in extremely curious way.

They both busted out laughing. "Yup. Because he's the doctor, what can I do about it?"

"If I ever go around listening to everything Jyou prescribes me, I plan on leaving everything to my mother."

"You're saying you don't trust the bearer of Honesty?"

They both laughed again. It was good to laugh. Sometimes, Yoshino just wished the whole world, digital and human, would just drop everything, think about all the good moments in their life, and laugh. Just picture everything being funny, like when you were a naïve little child. But as a child, you were also so very sensitive and easy to break. It would only be possible to fix those breaks over time, but as a child, you don't know that yet.

"That massage really did you good though" Sora nodded. "You definitely seem more relaxed. And remember what that masseuse said about your knots having knots?"

"Yeah" Yoshino laughed. Laughing felt good. It almost felt like forgetting about the things that stressed her out. "Her elbows really digged into me though."

"Yeah, Mimi told me about that" Sora nodded. "The masseuse can be rather strong in the join area."

"Not just her joints. My shoulders felt like they were going to pop right out of their sockets but not in a bad way."

"Um, that sounds pretty bad Yoshino."

Yoshino blinked. Sora had just called her by her first name and without the honorific. Even Touma still called her by Yoshino-san despite having worked with her for years. Then again, it just felt natural for someone like Sora to call everyone without using an honorific. It was probably because a girl as friendly as she was made friends easily.

"You're really lucky you know" Yoshino sighed without even realizing it.

Sora tilted her head to the side. "Where did this come from?"

"It must've been pretty easy for you to make friends huh" Yoshino explained. "I mean, you're really friendly. And being the bearer of Love, you know how to make others happy. Not to mention you're ability to appeal and understand both boys and girls alike."

Sora smiled, grateful for the compliment but there was something sad in her eyes. "No, I wasn't all that popular. It's true that my friends would peg me as kind or friendly but I didn't have many outside Taichi and the others or my sports groups. When I started dating Yamato, I was hit by a ton of backlash from his fan girls. Not just that, but I was one of the few girls who would want to get down and dirty on the soccer field or playing basketball. It wasn't easy to make friends with people when I behaved so much differently from them and then beat the other side at their own games."

Yoshino chuckled, picturing boys making up excuses about how Sora defeated them in some sport. "Boys have a lot of pride. Don't let that get to you."

"It was my high school years, I'm long over it" Sora laughed.

"So, last year."

"Yup."

They both laughed again and as it were before, it felt good.

"What was your first massage like?" Yoshino asked suddenly, not even quite sure why she had said it.

"Well, Mimi was talking about the spa she wanted to take Miyako to and they were just chatting about the various places where they have gotten massages" Sora told the older girl. "When I walked into the room, they started asking me where I got my best massage from. When I told them I never had one, they dragged me here. Overall, my first impression was just like yours. I was very self-conscious about stripping down, the majority of the experience being relaxing, but a few moments of pain."

They really were alike. "You're younger than I am but it seems you're much better-rounded than I am."

"So you tell me" Sora smiled. "Okay, now, it's my turn to ask you some questions."

"Shoot."

"What were you like in high school? I'm guessing you weren't super girly but something tells me you weren't into sport very much."

"No, I wasn't" Yoshino shook her head. Well, it's not like they had to be carbon copies of each other. "I was just quiet, I suppose. I didn't really like talking to many people and I stuck to my studies most of the time. I was mostly just an average Japanese schoolgirl, nothing special."

"If you weren't special than Raramon wouldn't have chosen you as her partner" Sora smiled.

"Raramon chose me?" Yoshino raised an eyebrow. They had decided to leave their partners at Sora's apartment during their spa day.

Sora nodded. "Do you really think it was a coincidence that an egg decided to pop up in front of you?"

Yoshino didn't say anything, she just thought about the day Raramon came into her life although she was Budmon at the time. She had just completed her first ever piano recital and it felt good but then an egg appeared from above and landed in her lap. A few hours later, these government agents came in and tried to take Yoshino away after the egg had hatched. Budmon didn't like how they were hurting her newfound partner and so she evolved and used her lullaby to put them to sleep. It was the same song that Yoshino had played at the recital.

The older girl shook her head to snap herself back to the present. "It wasn't a coincidence but it wasn't fate. Our Digi-Souls resonated with each other, that's how we ended up together. It's not like with you and Piyomon."

"You're as stubborn as Taichi sometimes" Sora sighed.

"And you can be as persistent as Masaru" Yoshino retorted.

They both looked at each other and laughed. "It's hard not to have some of their traits to be rubbed off on us, huh?" Sora giggled.

"Yeah, no doubt about that."

Sora stretched herself out as she stood up from where she was sitting. "You know, I had a lot of fun with you today. And… I want to tell you something." Yoshino stared at the redhead patiently. "Well… This might sound really stupid but I really love laughing with you. It makes it feel like all the problems in the world have gone away, even for a moment. Sometimes, I wish that the whole world could laugh at the same time. Not in a condescending or teasing way, but in a sincere, down-to-earth kind of way."

Yoshino blinked as she let this sink in. "Really?"

Sora scoffed with a smile. "I knew it was stupid."

Yoshino smiled and shook her head. "No… It wasn't. I was just thinking that… We really are alike."


	12. Hurt

Ryouma watched as Tagiru and Ren were arguing about which type of Digimon was better, the undead or dragons. It was getting rather annoying but he decided to leave them to it, after all that's what Hunters did. He glanced to the door that led up to the rooftop where they were all spending lunch for the day when Yuu entered.

"Did you find him anywhere?" Ryouma asked.

Yuu shook his head. "He's absent again."

Tagiru and Ren stopped arguing and stood up while the girls who were talking a little ways away joined them. "Kiichi skipped school today too?" Tagiru huffed.

"That makes three days in a row" Hideaki sighed.

"I'm getting really worried about him" Mizuki muttered, more to herself than anything. "It's not like him to skip classes like this."

Ren glanced to Tagiru and Yuu who were closest to the boy in question. "Have you guys tried calling him?"

Yuu nodded. "He won't pick up."

"He's only responded to one of my texts" Tagiru added. "It just read 'I'm sick of school. Leave me alone!'."

"Something is clearly wrong with him" Ryouma bit his lower lip. "I think we should check on him after school."

"His mother will let us in but Kiichi wouldn't let us into his room last time we went" Yuu shook his head. "I think we should talk to Taiki or one of the older kids about this. They might know what to do in this situation. And besides, none of them are aware that Kiichi is behaving this way in the first place."

"True" Airu nodded. "I guess we're making a stop at Shinjuku before going home then."

After school, the seven of them gather together at the entrance, skipping over any of their after school activities and getting to the train station. They were all talking about Kiichi and if anything strange had been happening to him before he disappeared from school as the train passed several districts. They couldn't really think of anything out of the ordinary, Kiichi was always smiling and happy as always whenever they were with him. It didn't take much longer for them to reach Shinjuku and it took even less time to reach Hypnos headquarters.

"Taiki-san!" Tagiru waved as soon as the reached the same floor the older DigiDestined were.

"This is a surprise" Taichi chuckled when he watched them walk in. "We were just about to call you guys to come here. We weren't expecting you guys to come here on your own and so soon too." His smile fell when he realized there had to be reason for them to be there like this but he decided to let them explain first.

"Why?" Airu blinked. "Is there some big news you wanted to share with us?"

"Not really" Takuya shrugged. "We were just going to talk about the Digimon sighting in the DigiQuartz to see if there had been any rise in the bio-emergences. But it seems like that can wait, you guys look like you have something urgent to report."

"Well, we were just kind of wondering if any of you have seen Kiichi recently" Ryouma stepped up.

"Yeah, he hasn't shown up to school for the past few days" Yuu nodded.

The older kids all dropped what they were doing and decided to listen in as it seemed more important than what they were busy with earlier. "I don't think any of us have seen him since last week when our last meeting came" Daisuke said.

"It's rather worrying though" Hikari muttered. "Kiichi doesn't seem like the type of kid to skip school."

Akari affirmed the other girl's observation. "He isn't."

Out of nowhere, Jyou suddenly stood up and walked over to Tagiru and the other young Hunters, he seemed to have a rather serious look on his face. "Was Kiichi acting strangely before he decided to start skipping school?"

"Well… No, not in any way I can think of" Tagiru shook his head. "He was smiling as he always is."

"Smiling always?" Jyou tilted his head to the side as if this commentary amused him. "You mean there wasn't a moment when he stopped smiling in front of you guys?"

It dawned on Yuu what Jyou was trying to say. "Yeah, whenever we showed up, he was always smiling."

"How do he and his classmates get along?" Jyou asked, continuing his interrogation.

Tagiru glanced at the others who all just shrugged. "None of us are in the same class as he is so we wouldn't know" the brunet admitted.

"But I did see this guy pushing him around after school once" Airu chimed in. "But when I stepped in, he just ran off."

Mizuki nodded as well. "I saw him with some of his classmates in the library but when I showed up, they all took off. Kiichi was crying and I tried to ask him what those classmates of his did but he wouldn't answer. So when I told him that I would try and get answers out of those kids, he stopped me. He told me that I would just make things worse for him so I didn't do anything."

"That makes you just as bad as they are" Shaochung whispered but not in a mean way, it was more of a sad statement than anything.

"What's wrong with all of you?" Tagiru asked without even thinking about it. "And besides, all it sounds like is that Kiichi was being bullied. He should've said something, we would've done something to take them down!"

Izumi put a hand to her hip. "That would also make you just as bad as they are."

Jyou had one more question for them. "Did Kiichi say anything to any of you as of recently? The last thing he said?"

"To leave him alone" Ryouma shrugged.

Touma called for their attention and brought up a rather large holographic monitor so that they could all see it. On the monitor was a social network site which they were all a part of and Kiichi's page was displayed, showing the last thing he posted. "'I can't wait to see my grandmother'" Touma read aloud to them.

"But Kiichi's grandmother died a few years ago" Tagiru muttered, but still loud enough for Jyou to hear.

The pre-med student stood up and walked over to Miyako. "I need to borrow Halsemon."

"Huh?" Miyako blinked.

If it had been any time before seven years ago, Jyou would've gotten airsick while flying on top of armored Digimon of Love. He flew right above Kiichi's house and noticed some weird cloud formations before realizing that it was actually a steam trail. "Follow it" Jyou ordered.

"I've never head you so serious before" Halsemon remarked.

Jyou didn't reply, he just kept his eyes ahead until they saw Locomon running on the invisible sky track leaving the trail of steam behind him. They flew towards the side of the locomotive and noticed the door open and Kiichi standing there.

"Kiichi!" Locomon shouted. "What do you think you're doing?"

Jyou could see the tears flying from the younger boy's face even from the distance they were away. "I'm sorry about this Locomon!" Kiichi replied. "But I can't take it anymore!"

"Go" Jyou breathed to Halsemon. They flew right in front of Kiichi who was startled by their sudden appearance and Jyou tackled the conductor to the floor of the locomotive, preventing him from completing his death wish.

"Let go of me!" Kiichi screamed.

"No!" Jyou shouted back as he pinned the smaller boy down. "I'm not going to let you throw away your life like that!"

"What do you know?"

"More than you think."

Jyou kept Kiichi to the floor as he commanded Locomon to take them back to Hypnos which the locomotive complied despite the protests coming from his actual partner. When they reached the government building, Taiki opened a window for them to enter. Jyou was carrying Kiichi over his shoulder before dumping him into a chair, everyone was more than surprised by the older boy's outraged behavior.

"Kiichi… Why were you going to do this?" Tagiru asked in shock once they had the full story told to them.

Kiichi was crying as he sat in the chair. "I just couldn't handle life anymore. No one in my class actually likes me and most of the student body just likes picking on me just because they think I'm pathetic and weak. It's just not fair!"

"Why didn't you tell any of us about this?" Mizuki asked.

"Yeah" Ren nodded. "We could've helped you, you know."

"I thought that if you guys stood up for me, it would just make things worse" Kiichi replied. "Like the bullies would just get angrier with me or just start saying even ruder things to me. They already think I'm weak, hiding behind others isn't going to help anything."

"You're right, it doesn't" Tomoki huffed in annoyance. "But do you know what would work? If you stood up for yourself. Even if you're going to get knocked down by those bullies, it doesn't mean you have to stay down. You can stand up on your own; it's why you have legs."

"I was just afraid…" Kiichi admitted. "And that's not the only reason why I was thinking about this. I also felt alone. No one understands what I'm going through."

Jyou had it at this point. He walked right up to Kiichi and slapped him across the face.

"Hey! What was that for?" Tagiru shouted.

"That was completely unnecessary" Yuu agreed.

Jyou just stared at Kiichi coolly, waiting for a response.

"You're going to bully me too?" Kiichi whimpered.

Jyou shook his head sympathetically as he placed a hand on Kiichi's head. "I was just doing what Yamato did to me when I said that."

Kiichi slowly looked up. "What do you mean?"

Jyou gave the younger boy a sad smile. "I was constantly picked on because I was considered weak and pathetic, an easy target if you will. What makes you think you're alone? I've been there, Tomoki has been there, and I'm sure most of the people here have been there. We've all taken blows but we're still standing. We survived, and so can you."

"But what if I can't?"

"Kiichi, you have wonderful friends and an amazing partner to boot" Taiki smiled as he approached him. "If I had known about this problem of yours, I would've told you about some bullies I had to deal with. Did you know that Tagiru posted a video of me doing some 'incredible' things? Well, I got a lot of mean comments saying I was a show-off or how I was awful. They said a lot of rude things about me and it hurt a lot but I survived."

It took a moment but Ruki stepped forward. "I was bullied too as surprising as that may be." She only added that last part when Hirokazu and Kenta gasped. "Back in my private school, there were these snobby girls who hated me because I acted all high and mighty. It wasn't easy for me and I would always pretend to be sick to get out of going to school just to avoid them. More than once did I think about taking my own life but I survived."

"Kind of a similar situation to me" Izumi smiled. "Being Italian and not having friends made me an easy target. Classmates would shoot racial slurs toward me and try to tell me to back to my own country. It's not easy to deal with that."

"I know the feeling" Jian chuckled. "And I'm only half-Chinese but they all told me to go back there. My brother went through a similar thing but it was for liking Shojo manga and writing about it as well. We both survived though."

"And look at Rinchei now" Shaochung chuckled. "One of the biggest manga artists in Japan."

"I was bullied too" Ikuto added. "When I first started going to school, I didn't know a lot of things because I was raised in the Digital World. Things were rough for me if I didn't have Chika with me and I always remembered my partner and all of my friends who supported me and loved me. Have you ever thought about how Tagiru and the others would feel going to your funeral?"

The thought appeared in Kiichi's head and he suddenly felt guilty. "I feel like I was being selfish now…"

"You were" Jyou nodded. "But you just have to remember that you're not alone, never. You have your friends and you can always come to an adult, teacher, or a parent to talk about your problems. They're there to help even if it seems like they can't be trusted."

"He's right" Yamaki nodded as he walked over to them. "My door is always open if you have to come to me with any issues you have to work through."

"He may not be the easiest to trust though" Reika smiled gently. "I think it might be easier to come to me or perhaps one of the Data Squad members."

"She's right about that" Yoshino nodded. "You're not alone, especially not when it comes to being a victim to bullying."

Kiichi glanced over to his actual schoolmates. "Have you guys…?"

Tagiru looked to the others and nodded. "We've survived. I was boastful, I still am actually, and I often get pushed around a lot for it. But I always stand right back up. But you probably won't feel much better since this is coming from someone as stubborn as I am."

"Well, I was bullied too" Yuu added. "Being a rich kid doesn't exactly help make people think better of you. I was marked as snobby with a superiority complex since I didn't spend much time with other kids my age."

"I've been there" Airu giggled. "You may find this surprising, but other kids thought I was annoying to be around and way too childish with my collection of cute dolls."

"And being known as the underwater treasure freak certainly doesn't help my reputation" Mizuki chuckled.

"And what about being the weird kid who has the dream of owning a takoyaki stand just to see people smile?" Hideaki grinned.

"I haven't been bullied before" Ryouma admitted. "But I have felt alone before. When I lost my partner, Psychemon, it felt like the end of the world for me. And while I watched you guys go on Hunts with the fire in your eyes, I felt so alone. I just wanted it to end." He glanced over to Yamato and Gabumon. "But I've realized that I have some pretty good friends I'm not willing to leave them just yet."

"You have some pretty great friends too and I'm not just saying that because I'm one of them" Ren smiled. "So, why don't you come back to school with us?"

Tagiru held out his hand and Kiichi took a moment to pause before taking it. "Thank you… I… I want to survive. Just like you guys…"

-X-

Kiichi sat at his table alone as he took out his bento box. He noticed the bullies whispering in the corner and they seemed like they were thinking of walking over to the Hunter when the door opened to their classroom. Tagiru strolled in with a chair and sat down by Kiichi's side. Not long after, Yuu, Ryouma, and all of the other Hunters followed.

"What are you guys doing here?" Kiichi asked.

"We just wanted to remind you that you have some pretty awesome friends" Airu grinned.

"But we're not going to stand up for you" Ryouma added.

"Not until you learn to stand up for yourself first" Tagiru added.

Kiichi smiled and he noticed one of the bullies shout towards them. "Hey, Kiichi! You're hiding behind your friends now?" he sneered.

Kiichi shook his head. "Not at all. I'm just having lunch with them!" He redirected himself back to his friends. "Because they're the best friends in the entire world."

-X-

**This is in honor of October being bully-prevention month. Bullying is not right and the victims go through some of the toughest things imaginable. While I don't like people giving their sob stories on social media, I do think they need to be heard, perhaps to anti-bullying organizations and friends but not the whole world. If you want to show the world that you've been through something tough then just say "I survived." Just remember that you're never alone and here is my reminder to you… I survived just like thousands of others all around you.**


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